Motivated by the increasing global incidences of disaster and the global recognition of the pivotal role played by tertiary
hospitals (TH) in disaster management (DM), this article seeks to assess the preparedness of TH to assume such a role.
The research objectives are; to scrutinize international best practices templates as benchmarks for evaluating the level of
disaster preparedness of Nigerian tertiary hospitals, determine how the tertiary hospital, managed disasters in the past
and how prepared it is for future disasters, and identify factors affecting the capacities of THs for DM. An explanatory
sequential mixed method research design was used, questionnaires were administered to the respondents, there after indepth
interviews were conducted with key informants who are highly placed. The data was analysed using SPSS version
24 while the qualitative data was analysed thematically. It is found that TH is not prepared for disaster, there are no
adequate resources both human and equipment to deal with casualty above 50 patients and also lack of funds. In
conclusion, TH has a major role to play in DM, their Emergency Preparedness (EP) should be upgraded in line with
global best practices to better position them for that role. As such, TH should adopt any of the global Emergency Management Plan (EMP) templates to guide them in preparing a manual for EP, which staff must be familiar with through wide circulation and regular disaster drills and exercises based on the manual.
- Musa-Maliki | A. | U. | aishaudu@yahoo.com | +2347038159582, Ibrahim | A. | H. | ahibrahim02@gmail.com | +2348035570017
- Disaster Management, Emergency Preparedness, Emergency Management Plan
- Musa-Maliki Vol 8(1)
