Mass casualty incident response: Assessment of the level of preparedness among hospital pharmacists

Abstract

Objectives: Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) and outcomes depend on the resources of the admitting institutions and their preparedness, respectively. We assessed the preparedness of hospital pharmacists for MCIs. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 132 pharmacists working in hospitals in Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria, over 1 month, using a 26-item self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 21). A Chi-square test was used for further analysis. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The response rate was 79.5% (105/132). Most respondents were 26–30 years, 31.4%, had been practicing for <10 years, 44.8%, and were female, 59.0%. Overall, 42.9% of the respondents had >400 beds, 66 (62.9%), and 48 (45.7%) had general and pharmacy-specific disaster preparedness plans, respectively. Respondents agreed that the hospital committee consensus determined medications to be stocked, 64 (60.9%) and that disaster plans were mainly for natural disasters, 73 (35.4%). Only 7 (6.6%) respondents practiced mock disaster preparedness. There was a significant association between respondents’ year of practice and response on including disaster events in the institutional plan (χ2 = 95.637, df. = 72, P = 0.033). Most respondents, 95 (90.0%), were positive (mean ± SD: 4.42 ± 0.875) about the need for analgesics during disaster events. Conclusion: Preparation for disaster preparedness was suboptimal based on the number of beds, pharmacy-specific disaster preparedness plan, and practice for mock disasters. This calls for immediate awareness to address these shortfalls through orientation, training, and retraining on preparedness for MCIs.