2023 Volume 93 Issue 1 Pages 15-22
The Hospital Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Support Office, established at the Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital in 2014, has planned and implemented the following: (1) information communication drills; (2) preparation and distribution of stockpiles; (3) awareness-raising activities; and (4) ward evacuation. The focus is primarily on comprehensive disaster drills, which are implemented throughout the year, aiming to raise awareness and the response capacity of staff regarding disaster prevention. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of participants and the scale of the training were expansive; however, the pandemic made it impossible to conduct most group-based drills and training from 2020 onward. Training resumed in 2021 with changes in the content, format, approaches, and methods, particularly focusing on recent technological advancements in the telecommunications environment and introducing staff to systems with full remote functionality.
In the future, to respond to the ever-changing external environment in a timely and accurate manner, we will collaborate with educational institutions and use the Google Forms cloud system to improve the efficacy and accuracy of information collection. We believe that effective utilization of the limited human resources is the cornerstone of medical institutions that can efficiently respond to disasters. At the Hospital Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Support Office, we will continue to develop and strengthen our systems.
