Sociopsychological Aspects of Evacuating or Sheltering Health Care Facilities in the Event of a Nuclear Power Plant Accident
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Date
1986
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
There are both similarities and differences in the emergency-relevant features of general hospitals and nursing homes for adults. In both types of facilities: 1) there is a collective providing of the daily necessities of life for their resident populations; 2) the population, whether known as patients or residents, expect to be and are ordered and controlled by the staff of the facilities; 3) the working staff is very heterogeneous; and 4) there are a variety of links to the outer world, such as relatives and friends of the patients or residents, suppliers of goods and services, and community and public officials. On the other hand: 1) hospitals are considered public resources with some responsibility for providing medical care for the community, but nursing homes are not so viewed; 2) hospitals are medical, whereas nursing homes are primarily custodial facilities; 3) hospitals have substantial and continual turnover in their patient population, whereas nursing home populations tend to be far more stable, and 4) there are likely to be more totally incapacitated patients in hospitals than in nursing homes.
Keywords
health care facilities, evacuation, nuclear disaster