A new report found that U.S. healthcare systems perform well in smaller, localized disasters but respond poorly to larger-scale disasters and catastrophes, according to an article on the Fierce Healthcare website.
In the report, published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, researchers found that healthcare organizations generally responded well to events that happen frequently. However, they struggle wth disasters such as bombings or weather events.
The report found hospitals least prepared for “catastrophic health events,” such as pandemics or bioterror attacks.
The report offers recommendations for improving coordination among healthcare organizations as they prepare for and deal with disasters. The first was coordinating hospitals’ disaster responses at the federal level.