EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Research Article
Jan 23, 2021 1229 1042

An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness

Majed Mohammed Alsalem 1 * ,
Saad Abdullah Alghanim 2
1 Hospital Administration, King Saud University, SAUDI ARABIA2 Business Administration, King Saud University, SAUDI ARABIA* Corresponding Author
European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 2021, 5(2), em0071, https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
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ABSTRACT

Objective: The study aims to assess the level of Saudi Hospital Disaster Preparedness (HDP).
Methods: This study has utilized exploratory quantitative design with a structured self-administered questionnaire. It has adopted a convenient sampling technique, which has included nine hospitals within three Saudi Cities (Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam). The questionnaire contains 48 indicators in six HDP domains: planning, structural, non-structural, management, functional, and human resource competency capacities.
Results: The level of Saudi HDP was 69.8%. The domain of management capacity had the highest level of preparedness, at 83.6%, while human resources competency capacity was the least prepared, at 63%. The Spearman correlation revealed a positive significant relationship between preparing to respond to a disaster when occur and all HDP capacity indicators, r (46) = 0.424, p = < .001. A one-way ANOVA test showed a significant difference in HDP between the three cities; Riyadh hospitals were the most prepared, F (2, 313) = 4.343, p < .05. It also showed that there were significant differences in preparedness between the MOH, other governmental, and university hospitals; university hospitals were the most prepared, F (2, 313) = 5.087, p < .05.
Conclusion: Overall, Saudi hospitals have a high level of HDP, which indicates that they are likely to function well in the eventuality of disasters. There is a great opportunity to strengthen HDP capacities to improve hospital readiness in the medium-long term. The implemented HDP assessment tool should be built into hospitals’ systems and coordinated among involved governmental sectors.

KEYWORDS

disaster hospital preparedness capacity

CITATION (Harvard)

Alsalem, M. M., and Alghanim, S. A. (2021). An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 5(2), em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
APA
Alsalem, M. M., & Alghanim, S. A. (2021). An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness. European Journal of Environment and Public Health, 5(2), em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
Vancouver
Alsalem MM, Alghanim SA. An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness. EUROPEAN J ENV PUBLI. 2021;5(2):em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
AMA
Alsalem MM, Alghanim SA. An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness. EUROPEAN J ENV PUBLI. 2021;5(2), em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
Chicago
Alsalem, Majed Mohammed, and Saad Abdullah Alghanim. "An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness". European Journal of Environment and Public Health 2021 5 no. 2 (2021): em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663
MLA
Alsalem, Majed Mohammed et al. "An Assessment of Saudi Hospitals’ Disaster Preparedness". European Journal of Environment and Public Health, vol. 5, no. 2, 2021, em0071. https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/9663

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