An assessment methodology for healthcare organizations following disasters

On September 16, 1999, Hurricane Floyd, a 300-mile storm with winds between 96--110 miles-per-hour hit the eastern coast of North Carolina leaving behind the worst damage in the history of the state. Floyd illuminated the need to assess the ability of healthcare organizations to provide care following disasters in North Carolina, a need further illustrated by September 11, 2001.;Disasters pose incredible challenges to healthcare providers. During these crises, providers are expected to be caretakers despite their own status as victims. While devastating to healthy individuals, the period following a disaster can be life-threatening to medically vulnerable individuals such as home health or dialysis patients.;The primary objective of this dissertation is to develop a methodology that disaster personnel can use to assess the needs and resources of healthcare agencies following any disaster within the United States. The strategy used was designed using primary data collection and analysis based on survey research methodology. The assessment methodology includes: (1) identification of issues that impede the provision of care by healthcare organizations, (2) identification of individuals dependent on healthcare during disasters, (3) identification of the target population of healthcare services to get a cross section of obstacles faced by providers, (4) questionnaire development, (5) development of a process to locate healthcare providers following a disaster.;The secondary objective is to illustrate the use of the assessment methodology to describe the impact of Floyd on healthcare providers in eastern North Carolina. The strategy was to implement the assessment methodology and use the survey process to develop the final methodology.;The two final products are (1) a field manual for disaster personnel detailing the methodology for identifying medically vulnerable individuals and assessing the healthcare needs and resources of healthcare organizations and (2) a descriptive analysis of the impact of Hurricane Floyd on hospitals and pharmacies in six North Carolina counties.;This study revealed that Floyd had a tremendous impact on healthcare in the counties studied. While the findings are specific to the counties surveyed, the census sampling method used may lend generalizability to other counties hit by Floyd or areas affected by similar disasters.