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The Incident Management Response of the Emergency Departments in Belgium During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors :
Luc J.M. Mortelmans
Marc Sabbe
Patrick Van de Voorde
Tinne Verhoogen
Ruben Haesendonck
Didier Desruelles
Source :
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2021.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that emergency departments (EDs) need to reorganize their operations rapidly. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on structural and logistical issues at EDs and the measures taken. Belgian EDs were surveyed on the implemented changes at the start of the pandemic in relation to the 4 S's in disaster medicine: Structure, Staff, Supplies, and System. The study demonstrated that Belgian EDs felt largely unprepared for this pandemic, but nevertheless dynamically restructured their organization. A 46% increase in ED beds was created in different types of structures and more than 50% of all ED beds were reserved for COVID-19 care, but overall the number of patient presentations dropped by 29%. EDs deployed extra personnel, additional training, and psychological support. More than 50% reported an acute shortage of personal protective equipment, and several reported a shortage of ventilatory equipment and medications. ispartof: DISASTER MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS vol:16 issue:5 pages:2194-2197 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Details

ISSN :
1938744X and 19357893
Volume :
16
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....1b8ed1091663f188156862c21cdeaf7f
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2021.253