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Impact of a Disaster Drill on Waiting Times in a Pediatric Emergency Department

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2021

Silvia Asenjo ,
Aitor López-González ,
David Muñoz-Santanach ,
Victoria Trenchs ,
Carles Luaces  and
Cristina Parra
Silvia Asenjo
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Aitor López-González
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
David Muñoz-Santanach
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Influencia del entorno en el bienestar del niño y del adolescente, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
Victoria Trenchs
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Influencia del entorno en el bienestar del niño y del adolescente, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
Carles Luaces
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Influencia del entorno en el bienestar del niño y del adolescente, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
Cristina Parra*
Affiliation:
Pediatric Emergency Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Influencia del entorno en el bienestar del niño y del adolescente, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
*
Corresponding author: Cristina Parra, Email: cparra@sjdhospitalbarcelona.org.
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Abstract

Objective:

Emergency departments should improve their preparedness for mass casualty incidents (MCIs) through periodic drills. These exercises are conducted while maintaining regular care. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a disaster drill in a pediatric emergency department (PED) on real patients’ waiting times.

Methods:

On September 10, 2019, a 4-h disaster drill was conducted in the PED of a tertiary pediatric hospital, with minimal staff reinforcement (2 nurses). Cases were real patients that came to the PED during the drill. The patients that visited the PED the day before were the control group. Variables analyzed were: age, sex, destination, triage level, time-to-triage, time-to-physician, length of PED stay, and percentage of patients visited within the optimal time according to triage level.

Results:

Sixty-eight patients (case group) and 63 patients (control group) were analyzed; both groups were comparable except for the median age. There were no differences in time-to-triage, time-to-physician, and length of PED stay between the 2 groups. The percentage of patients visited within optimal time according to triage level was higher in the case group.

Conclusions:

Conducting an MCI drill in the PED, with minimal staff reinforcement, was not detrimental to real patients’ waiting times.

Keywords

mass casualty incidentsdisaster medicineemergency service
Type
Brief Report
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 16 , Issue 5 , October 2022 , pp. 1814 - 1816
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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