Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:42:20.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hospital Disaster Operations During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Julie Martchenke  and
James E. Pointer
Julie Martchenke*
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, San Francisco General Hospital, Emergency Medical Services Agency, Department of Public Health, City and County of San Francisco, Calif.
James E. Pointer
Affiliation:
The Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.
*
City and County of San Francisco, 1540 Market St., Suite 220, San Francisco, CA 94102USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

To study hospital disaster operations following a major United States disaster.

Design:

Researchers interviewed all 51 hospital administrators and 49 of 51 emergency department (ED) charge nurses and emergency physicians who were on duty at the study hospitals during the 13-hour period immediately following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Setting:

The 51 acute-care hospitals in the six northern California counties most affected by the Loma Prieta earthquake.

Measurements:

Questionnaires and inperson interviews.

Results:

The most frequently noted problem was lack of communications within and among organizations. Hospitals received inadequate information about the disaster from local governmental agencies. Forty-three percent of hospitals had inadequate back-up power configurations, and five hospitals sustained total back-up generator failures. Twenty hospitals performed partial evacuations.

Conclusions:

The Loma Prieta earthquake did not cause total disruption of hospital services. Hospitals need to work with local governmental agencies and internal hospital departments to improve disaster communications.

Keywords

disaster planningdisaster preparednessdisaster suppliesdisaster tagsearthquakesemergency operations centerfoodhospital disaster operationslightningoxygenpower failurestructural damagesuturewater
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 1994 , pp. 146 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Earthquake-Associated Deaths-California. MMWR 1989;38:767.Google Scholar
2. 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake Summary Report. Sacramento: State of California, Department of California Highway Patrol, 1990.Google Scholar
3. Ward, P, Eck, C: Emergency nursing at the epicenter. J Emerg Nursing l990;16:49A–56A.Google Scholar
4. Hiatt, JR, Larmon, B: Impact of urban disaster on a university trauma center. West J Med 1988;148:225–227.Google ScholarPubMed
5. Jacobs, LM, Goody, MN, Sinclair A: The role of a trauma center in disaster management. J Trauma 1983;23:697–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Bozza-Marrubini, M: Three major disasters in Italy: Experiences of Niguarda-Ca'Granda staff of Milan. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1985;1:414–419.Google Scholar
7. Yatzy, D, Haas, JE: Chronicles of events in Anchorage following the earthquake. The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964. Human Ecology Volume Committee on the Alaska Earthquake for the National Research Council, Washington, D.C., National Academy of Sciences, 1970:405–407.Google Scholar
8. Norton, RB, Haas, JE: The Cities and Towns: The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, Human Ecology Volume, Committee on the Alaska Earthquake for the National Research Council, Washington, D.C., National Academy of Sciences, 1970:266–268.Google Scholar
9. Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Chicago, 1990.Google Scholar
10. Eliot, AC: KWIKSTAT 2.0: A statistics program for personal computers. TexaSoft, Cedar Hill, Texas, 1983–1989.Google Scholar
11. Aghababian, RV: Hospital disaster planning. Topics Emerg Med 1986;7:446–454.Google ScholarPubMed
12. Cowan, M, Butman, AM, Bosner, LV: Mass-casualty planning: Model for in-hospital disaster response. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1986;2:83–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Contzen, H: Preparations in hospital for the treatment of mass casualties. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1985;1:118–119.Google Scholar
14. Seaver, DJ: Coping with internal disaster is a hospital priority. Hospitals, 1977;7:167–172.Google Scholar
15. Woods, D: Disasters: How would your hospital cope with 50 casualties?Google Scholar
16. Irving, M: Major disasters: Hospital admission procedures. Br Can Med Assoc J Surg 1976;63:703–733.Google ScholarPubMed
17. Ward, PL, Page, RA: The Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989. U.S. Geological Survey; Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.Google Scholar
18. Pointer, J, Michaelis, J, Saunders, C, et al. : The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake: Impact on patient care. Ann Emerg Med 1992;10:1228–1233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Quantarelli, EL: The community general hospital: Its immediate problems in disaster. American Behavioral Scientist 1970;13:389–391.Google Scholar
20. Klein, JS, Weigelt, JA: Disaster management lessons learned. Surgical Clinics of North America 1991;71:257–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Dinerman, N: Disaster preparedness: Observations and perspectives. J Emerg Nursing 1990;16:252–255.Google Scholar
22. Haynes, BE, Freeman, C, Rubin, JL: Medical response to catastrophic events: California's planning and the Loma Prieta earthquake. Ann Emerg Med 1992;21:368–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Auf der Heide, E: Disaster Response: Principles of Preparation and Coordination. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby Co., 1989, pp 9–102.Google Scholar
24. CHORAL Software Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 19412, Portland, OR 97280.Google Scholar
25. Savage, PE: Disasters and Hospital Planning: A Manual for Doctors, Nurses and Administration. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1979.Google Scholar
26. Reitherman, R: How to prepare a hospital for an earthquake. J Emerg Med 1986;4:119–131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27. Fisher, H: Emergency evacuation of the Denver Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Military Med 1986;151:154–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28. Smith, JS: Hospital disaster and evacuation planning. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1990;5:357–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar