Hospital Disaster Preparedness in the United States: New issues, New Challenges

Disasters are typically viewed as low probability yet high impact events. Although various definitions have been used, a disaster is frequently viewed as a situation in which the number of patients presenting to the medical facility within a given time period exceed the ability of the hospital to provide care without external assistance. As such, the definition is institution specific, and therefore preparedness must be likewise institution specific. The same event may represent a disaster for a 30 bed hospital and simply tax the capacity of an 1800 bed institution.