Back to Search
Start Over
The Incident Management Response of the Emergency Departments in Belgium During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- 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
- Subjects :
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
surge capacity
Economic shortage
SARS-COV-2
pandemics
Disaster Medicine
disaster medicine
Belgium
Incident management
Pandemic
Psychological support
Humans
Medicine
Pandemics
Personal protective equipment
Report from the Field
Emergency Service
emergency service
Surge Capacity
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
COVID-19
medicine.disease
Surge capacity
Medical emergency
Emergency Service, Hospital
business
Disaster medicine
Subjects
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