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Building Health Care System Capacity to Respond to Disasters: Successes and Challenges of Disaster Preparedness Health Care Coalitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2015

Lauren Walsh Open the ORCID record for Lauren Walsh [Opens in a new window] ,
Hillary Craddock ,
Kelly Gulley ,
Kandra Strauss-Riggs  and
Kenneth W. Schor
Lauren Walsh*
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, MarylandUSA
Hillary Craddock
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, MarylandUSA
Kelly Gulley
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, MarylandUSA
Kandra Strauss-Riggs
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, MarylandUSA
Kenneth W. Schor
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, MarylandUSA
*
Correspondence: Lauren Walsh, MPH National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health 11300 Rockville Pike Suite 1000 Rockville, Maryland 20910 USA E-mail [email protected]
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Abstract

Introduction

This research aimed to learn from the experiences of leaders of well-developed, disaster preparedness-focused health care coalitions (HCCs), both the challenges and the successes, for the purposes of identifying common areas for improvement and sharing “promising practices.”

Hypothesis/Problem

Little data have been collected regarding the successes and challenges of disaster preparedness-focused HCCs in augmenting health care system preparedness for disasters.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of nine HCC leaders. Transcripts were analyzed qualitatively.

Results

The commonly noted benefits of HCCs were: community-wide and regional partnership building, providing an impartial forum for capacity building, sharing of education and training opportunities, staff- and resource-sharing, incentivizing the participation of clinical partners in preparedness activities, better communication with the public, and the ability to surge. Frequently noted challenges included: stakeholder engagement, staffing, funding, rural needs, cross-border partnerships, education and training, and grant requirements. Promising practices addressed: stakeholder engagement, communicating value and purpose, simplifying processes, formalizing connections, and incentivizing participation.

Conclusions

Strengthening HCCs and their underlying systems could lead to improved national resilience to disasters. However, despite many successes, coalition leaders are faced with obstacles that may preclude optimal system functioning. Additional research could: provide further insight regarding the benefit of HCCs to local communities, uncover obstacles that prohibit local disaster-response capacity building, and identify opportunities for an improved system capacity to respond to, and recover from, disasters.

WalshL, CraddockH, GulleyK, Strauss-RiggsK, SchorKW. Building Health Care System Capacity to Respond to Disasters: Successes and Challenges of Disaster Preparedness Health Care Coalitions. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-10.

Keywords

capacity buildingdisastershealth care coalitionslearning
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 112 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2015 

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