Principal courses
Hospital Preparedness for Emergencies (HOPE)
Course Overview (View Course Schedule)
Purpose: The Hospital Preparedness for Emergencies (HOPE) Course addresses the structural, non-structural, organizational and medical concerns of health facilities in order to develop and implement well-designed plans that increase their capacity to respond effectively to emergencies.
Background: HOPE is a four-day course of the Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) that was developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) together in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal and a team of leading experts from throughout the Asia Pacific region. The course has been tested and delivered in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Target Audience: The first HOPE Course in each PEER country is intended for medical experts with expertise in the field of emergency medicine and disaster preparedness and serving as faculty or lecturers at appropriate institutions where future HOPE courses can be conducted. Accordingly, the first course in each country is intended to train future HOPE instructors. Subsequent HOPE courses are intended for members of hospital disaster management committees, including hospital administrators, hospital engineers, emergency room physicians, nurses and hospital planning staff. The ideal number of participants for HOPE is 24, however, it can accommodate maximum 28 number of participants.
Course Methodology and Content: HOPE is a 32-hour course delivered in four days by a course coordinator, five lead instructors with the help of two assistant instructors. On top of eight instructors, an experienced course monitor is assigned for overall supervision of course delivery. Methodology includes interactive lectures and discussions, case studies and a variety of exercises and simulations. The course consists of 25 interactive lectures and six exercises. Materials include an Instructor Guide, Lesson Plans, Participant Workbook, Coordinator Guide and Reference Materials. The course focuses on the following issues and topics:
» Overview of Disasters and Disaster Risk Management
» Epidemiology of Disasters and Patterns of Injury
» Overview of Hazards
» Structural Components
» Non-Structural Components
» Functional Collapse of Hospitals
» Techno Industrial Disasters
» Complex Emergencies
» Epidemics and Emerging Infections
» Mass Casualty Incidents
» Mass Gathering Medical Care
» Principles of Disaster Medicine
» Pre Hospital Care
» Triage
» Resuscitation and Emergency Care
» Hospital Incident Command System (HICS)
» Hospital Preparedness Planning
» Emergency Department
» Hospital Internal Disasters
» Onsite Medical Care
» Disaster Risk Communication
» Interagency Coordination
» Mass Fatality Management
» Psychological Consequences of Disasters
» Return to Normal Operations
Performance Objective: By the end of the course, the student will be able to conduct a vulnerability assessment of the hospital and develop a hospital disaster plan.
Instructional Objectives: Upon course completion, participants will be able to describe the relationship between hospitals and disasters; apply a method of judging or qualifying seismically functional/operational components of a hospital; simulate a mass casualty incident addressing the roles and responsibilities of each component of HICS; discuss the basic requirements in the medical aspects of managing mass casualties and to demonstrate stress debriefing; apply concepts learned in on-site medical care to specific situations; and prepare an outline of a hospital disaster preparedness plan including response and recovery.
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Course Overview
General information, administrative details about the course, introduction of participants.
Lesson 2: Overview of Disasters
The aim of this session is to introduce the basic terminology of Disaster Management and the importance of hospital and community preparedness. In addition, the concepts of disaster risk management will be discussed.
Lesson 3: Disaster Risk Management
The aim of this session is to introduce the context within which the HOPE course takes place. In addition, this lesson discusses the disaster risk management terminologies and describes the conceptual evolution of disaster risk management concept globally.
Lesson 4: Disaster Epidemiology and Patterns of Injury
The aim of this session is to introduce the concept of disaster epidemiology and the patterns of injuries associated with them. The effect of disasters on hospital is also addressed.
Lesson 5: Overview of Hazards
The aim of this session is to introduce various hazards and their effect on hospitals.
Lesson 6: Structural Components
The aim of this session is to discuss the structural components that can be affected during a disaster, particularly for earthquake, flood, high wind and fire.
Lesson 7: Non-Structural Components
The aim of this session is to discuss the non-structural components that can be affected during disasters.
Lesson 8: Functional Collapse of Hospitals
The aim of this session is to discuss the loss of hospital function that may occur during disasters and factors to be considered in evaluation of hospitals after the disaster.
Lesson 9: Techno-Industrial Disasters
The aim of this session is to discuss disasters that are caused by the development of technology and the growth of industrialization.
Lesson 10: Complex Emergencies
The aim of this session is to discuss other human-induced disasters, specifically complex emergencies.
Lesson 11: Epidemics and Emerging Infections
The aim of this session is to discuss an overview of epidemics and infections that may occur during or after a disaster.
Lesson 12: Mass Casualty Incident
The aim of this session is to introduce the participants to mass casualty incidents (MCI) and how to approach an MCI.
Lesson 13: Mass Gathering Medical Care
The aim of this session is to discuss potential vulnerability of mass gathering and enumerate the salient features that involve the planning process of mass gathering medical care.
Lesson 14: Principles of Disaster Medicine
The aim of this session is to discuss the principles of disaster medicine and the key concepts in regards to the chain of disaster medicine.
Lesson 15: Pre-Hospital Care
The aim of this session is to discuss the emergency medical system and its function within the context of emergency and disaster care.
Lesson 16: Triage
The aim of this session is to discuss the approach to triage and the different types of triage scenarios. It will also present the history and application of triage in medical practice. Another highlight is on the pearls and pitfalls of triage in an everyday situation.
Lesson 17: Hospital Incident Command System (HICS)
The aim of this session is to introduce the concept of disaster management and the applicability of the Hospital Incident Command System.
Lesson 18: Hospital Preparedness Planning
The aim of this session is to discuss the process of disaster planning and the execution of this plan.
Lesson 19: Emergency Department
The aim of this session is to introduce emergency department concept and operations. This will discuss the system that emergency medical care functions in and also the key personnel in that system.
Lesson 20: Hospital Internal Disasters
The aim of this session is to discuss the essential elements of the hospital evacuation plan.
Lesson 21: On-site Medical Care
The aim of this session is to discuss on-site medical facilities in the context of the disaster settings. Focus will be towards doing a scene assessment and designing the layout of the facilities.
Lesson 22: Disaster Risk Communication
The aim of this session is to go over a variety of topics related to disaster risk communication. The topics range in spectrum to informing community of the disaster risk, developing early warning systems, managing information, and dealing with media and relatives.
Lesson 23: Inter-agency Coordination
The aim of this session is to discuss the major national and international response capabilities during a disaster. The incorporation and liaison with these institutions will also be discussed.
Lesson 24: Mass Fatality Management
The aim of this session is to discuss the issues related to the management of mass fatality in a disaster setting.
Lesson 25: Psychosocial Consequences of Disaster
The aim of this session is to discuss the mental health issues after a disaster. Focus will be towards not only discussing the immediate and long term mental health issues, but also some self-help techniques that are useful.
Lesson 26: Return to Normal Hospital Operation
The aim of this session is to discuss some of the issues related to when a hospital returns to normal functioning and its return to normal health operations.
Exercise Summaries
Exercise 1: Structural Components Evaluation
The aim of this exercise is to do structural evaluation of hospital after a disaster.
Exercise 2: Potential Injury Causing Events (PICE)
The aim of this exercise is to do a Mass Casualty Incident grading using the PICE nomenclature.
Exercise 3: Triage Exercise
The aim of this exercise is to do Field Triage of patients using the START Protocol.
Exercise 4: Hospital Incident Command System (HICS)
The aim of this session is to discuss the role and responsibilities under MCI and identify debriefing requirements.
Exercise 5: Hospital Internal Disasters
The aim of this session is to discuss and understand the essential elements and issues of a hospital evacuation plan.
Exercise 6: Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Management Exercise
The aim of this session is to introduce the student to their final exercise on Mass Casualty Management.
