Emergency Preparedness: An Analysis of Staff Knowledge and Training at Darnall Army Community Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas

Currently Army hospitals receive guidance and standards for the establishment and maintenance of an emergency management plan EMP from multiple entities, including the United States Army Medical Command MEDCOM, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations JCAHO, and the National Fire Protection Agency NFPA. These organizations require the establishment of an EMP, yet mechanisms to measure its effectiveness are not provided. JCAHO accreditation is often sited as an indicator of effectiveness, yet it is merely an indicator of compliance with performance measures. Compliance does not tell the hospital or its stakeholders whether or not the staff is adequately trained on the emergency management plans and if they can effectively execute the plan as written. Survey results show that approximately 90 percent of the staff indicated they were in need of additional training and almost 50 percent indicated the most beneficial training would be section level trainingdrillsexercises that focused on individual section specific responsibilities.