Abstract
BackgroundIn order to the significance of lessons learned from the natural disasters for health care systems particularly in developing and under-developed countries, the main purpose of this study was to identify challenges and limitations in light of the earthquake experience in Kermanshah Province.MethodsThe present study was conducted in 2019 as a qualitative research using content analysis method. In this regard, 19 key informants were selected using snowball sampling. To enhance the accuracy of the study, the four validation criteria for qualitative studies in data coding developed by Guba and Lincoln including credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were used. Data was analyzed applying Graneheim and Lundman (2004) approach for analyzing the qualitative content of an interview text.ResultsAnalysis of the data led to the identification of 2 main themes, 5 sub- themes and 17 main categories. The first main theme was health system oriented challenges containing challenges of medication supply and preparation, structural challenges, challenges in crisis-scene management and challenges of service delivery and the second main theme was non-health system oriented challenges including social and psychosocial challenges.ConclusionAccording to the results, along with health system oriented challenges with the inter-sectoral or intra-sectoral nature, the non-health system oriented challenges the same as social, cultural and psychological factors can be considered as the major challenges of Iran’s healthcare system in the face of crises. This complicated context can shed the light to policy makers that not only attention to the medicine and medical equipment supply chain, manpower preparation and service delivery system can be considered as an emergency, but also careful attention to the structural challenges and crisis-scene management should be planned and considered as a priority. Besides, the policy makers and the local managers should try to plan and act in a contingent situation according to the social and cultural characteristics of the region and the psychological condition and the mental needs of the people.
Highlights
In order to the significance of lessons learned from the natural disasters for health care systems in developing and under-developed countries, the main purpose of this study was to identify challenges and limitations in light of the earthquake experience in Kermanshah Province
Semi-structured interviews aimed at explaining challenges facing Iran’s healthcare system in times of natural disasters were performed with senior members of Kermanshah Province Crisis Committee, emergency wards, Medical Supply Units, Food and Drug Administration executives of Red Crescent Society, as well as hospital heads involved in crisis, and financial managers
According to the present results the challenges related to service delivery, crisis scene management and medical supply and preparation are among the inter-sectoral challenges related to the health system
Summary
In order to the significance of lessons learned from the natural disasters for health care systems in developing and under-developed countries, the main purpose of this study was to identify challenges and limitations in light of the earthquake experience in Kermanshah Province. Human life and property has been continuously confronted with unpredicted events and sometimes frightening and dangerous disasters such as earthquakes, floods, storms, and wars [1]. Such accidents and catastrophes disrupt normal functioning in societies and have a significant impact on people, activities, and their surrounding environments. They may be caused by natural events (e.g. hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.) or arise out of human activities (namely, war, terror, biological and chemical warfare, etc.) [2]. Even though only 1% of the world’s population is living in Iran, 6% of casualties resulted from natural disasters take place in this country [8], as one of the 10 most vulnerable nations across the world [8,9,10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
