August 24th, 2016 Central Italy Earthquake - Validation of “Modified Utstein Template for Hospital Disaster Response Reporting,” A New Tool for Reporting Hospital’s Reaction to Disasters

Abstract

Introduction:After Action Reports analyze events and recommend actions to facilitate preparedness and response to future similar disasters. However, there is no consensus among the templates developed to collect data during disasters and little is known about how to report hospital responses.Aim:The hypothesis was that the use of a new assessment tool for hospital response to natural disasters facilitates the systematic collection of data and the delivery of a scientific report after the event.Methods:A data collection tool, focused on hospital response to natural disasters, was created modifying the “Utstein-Style Template for Uniform Data Reporting of Acute Medical Response in Disasters”,1 and tested the reaction of the hospitals involved in the response to the Central Italy earthquake on August 24th, 2016.Results:Four hospitals were included. The completion rate of the tool was of 97.10%. A total of 613 patients accessed the four emergency departments, most of them in Rieti hospital (178; 29.04%). Three hundred and thirty – six patients were classified as earthquake-related (54.81%), most of which with trauma injuries (260; 77.38%).Discussion:The new reporting tool proved to be easy to use and allowed to retrospectively reconstruct most (97.10%) of the actions implemented by hospital responders. Details about activation, patient fluxes, times, and actions undertaken were easily reconstructed throughout in-field interviews of hospital managers and patients’ charts. Patients were uniformly distributed across the four hospitals, and the hospital capabilities were able to cope with this mass influx of casualties. The Modified Utstein Template for Hospital Disaster Response Reporting is a valid tool for hospital disaster management reporting. This template could be used for a better comprehension of hospital disaster reaction, debriefing activities, and revisions.