Managing victims of terrorist attacks: An analysis of the preparedness of Mississippi hospitals for attacks involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction

The world has changed since September 11, 2001 and our nation remains at risk to additional terrorist attacks and will remain at risk for the foreseeable future. Even before the United States launched a war on Iraq, the threat of terrorist attacks on American soil had been a cause for concern in the health care industry, and the current war makes that threat even more of a concern. Since the events of September 11, 2001, hospitals have been working to ensure that they would be ready in the event of a major disaster, but according to a senior vice president at the American Hospital Association, our nation's hospitals still have a long way to go. Thus, there is a clear need for information about current hospital preparedness for terrorist attacks to provide a foundation for systematic planning and broader discussions about relative cost, probable effectiveness, and overall societal priorities.; To address this need, the present research examined the preparedness of acute care hospitals for managing victims of terrorist attacks involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized in this research. By using a questionnaire survey of all acute care hospitals in the state of Mississippi (n = 102), the researcher examined documented and functional preparedness plans, specific preparedness education/training, adequacy of decontamination facilities, adequacy of surge capacity, adequacy of pharmaceutical supplies, and adequacy of laboratory diagnostic capabilities. Six hypotheses were formulated and tested utilizing the Pearson r Correlation Analysis.; The findings in this research revealed that the majority (89.2%) of the respondent hospitals had documented and functional preparedness plans and provided specific preparedness education/training for employees. Additionally, a majority (75.7%) had one or more dedicated decontaminated facilities. However, over half (59.5%) reported that they do not have the ability to increase surge capacity. Further, at least half (59.8%) of the responding hospitals reported that their pharmaceutical service(s) had documented plans and procedures appropriate for prophylaxis/treatment of victims in the event of a chemical or biological disaster. A majority (89.2%) of the hospitals reported that their laboratory diagnostic service(s) do not have the capacity to analyze and identify chemically or biologically contaminated specimens. However, over half (78.4%) reported that their laboratory diagnostic service(s) do have procedures/protocols in place for transporting chemically or biologically contaminated specimens. Additionally, 73.0% reported that they had identified an alternative laboratory in the event that their laboratory service(s) was contaminated.; Acute care hospitals in the state of Mississippi generally are not prepared in an organized fashion to manage victims of terrorist attacks involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction. Thus, as indicated in the findings of this research, these hospitals will require substantial additional resources at the local, state, and national levels to be truly prepared.