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Prepare your ward during normal times |
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Create a safer environment.
An earthquake with an intensity of g5 upperh on the Japanese shindo scale is said to sometimes cause heavy furniture to topple over and the TV to fall off its stand.
* Routinely review the hospital ward environment, and reinforce possible danger spots.
* Clearly determine how to confirm damages and who will do it when a disaster strikes.
* Make efforts to eliminate areas where measures have not yet been implemented, and make regular confirmation of the implementation status. |
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Spots to be strengthened in hospital wards
* Fix cupboards and medicine cabinets, and reinforce to prevent toppling.
* Use slide-doors for cupboards to prevent stored items from jumping out.
* Apply shatterproof film on the glass panes of cupboards doors. |
High priority medical equipment
* High priority medical equipment directly concerned with life-support should be connected to an emergency power supply. |
Evacuation routes
* Think of several evacuation routes, and check for any problems by actually walking through each route. |
Surroundings of beds and reinforcement
* Position beds and cots of newborns away from water fixtures to avoid injury from burst water pipes.
* Keep shelves and other things away that are likely to fall/topple over.
* Keep cots flat. (When they are slanted, newborns may fall off during an earthquake. If it is necessary to slant the cots, keep them slanted for as short a time as possible.)
* Donft lock the wheels of cots and incubators unless necessary. (For cots, newborns may be thrown out due to shaking caused by earthquakes. For incubators, they could topple over.. |
Maintaining reserves stocks.
Confirm how much of the items necessary in times of disaster are kept in store, and where in the hospital ward they are stored. Examples of these items include baby formula, minimum amount of water for dissolving formula and for drinking, newspaper, and plastic bags. To procure supplies, keep a memo of contacts of related vendors, and know beforehand where relief goods will be delivered. |
Various uses of plastic bags
Plastic bags are useful during times of disaster, so prepare enough of them to spare.
For carrying water |
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| For covering dishes |
As a substitute for gloves |
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| For use as a toilet |
For protecting ledgers and documents |
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Check evacuation routes, and provide route information to pregnant women and postpartum mothers.
| Give a map marked with evacuation routes at the time of hospital admission, and explain evacuation methods (mothers must carry their newborns when evacuating, etc.). Also, in hospital wards, NICUs etc., discuss arrangements in case mothers and children must evacuate separately, and make sure that everyone is aware of these arrangements. |
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Know the equipment usable during power and water failure
Equipment may not be usable due to power failure or damage.
* Make a list during normal times of equipment that can be used without electricity.
* Think about information gathering and care provision methods that can be carried out without medical equipment.
* Confirm methods of cleaning and disinfecting (using wipes, rub-in disinfectants, etc.) during water failure.
- Examples of items usable during a power failure -
| Fetal heartbeat dopplers |
Traube stethoscopes, stethoscopes, rechargeable |
| Suction of amniotic fluid of newborns |
foot suction pumps, oral suction catheters |
| Respirators |
Ambu bags |
| Lighting |
head lamps(free both hands), flashlights |
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Network to other hospitals
According to the damage status of your and other hospitals, you may need to accept or transport patients. Form partnerships with hospitals and maternity hospitals in the area, make a memo of their contact numbers and addresses, and post the memo in an easy-to-see location. |
Make a list of tasks to ask volunteers to take care of.
During normal times, think of tasks that can be taken care of by volunteers. For example, you could ask volunteer nurses to help you with nursing care tasks; to general volunteers you could ask to carry water and goods, prepare baby formulas, cook meals, pick up and clean, act as messengers between hospital wards, etc. |
Include preparedness for disasters in childbirth education.
Contact methods that can be used during times of disaster
Be sure to convey information regarding safety confirmation sites by NTT and others at maternity classes.
- How to use the phone during times of disaster -
* When calls will not go through with fixed phone lines, you can use the e-mail service on cell phones and/or the Disaster Message Broard services.
Ex..
"Disaster Emergency Dengon Dial 171" Call from fixed phone lines in the disaster area will be prioritized Disaster Massage Boards on cell phoneshiService varies by company.
* Regarding calls from the disaster area, calls from public phones go through relatively easier, so be sure to know the locations near you, and always keep some loose change with you.
* Since there are limits to the capacity of communication facilities, make your calls as brisf as possible. |
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Medical examinations during times of disaster
| During times of disaster, pregnant women and postpartum mothers may not be able to receive medical examinations from their regular hospitals. Be sure to tell mothers and expectant mothers that letters of introduction are not required for medical examinations during times of disaster, and to take their Maternal and child health handbook with them if possible. Also, make it a habit of giving them their test results so that they themselves can explain their health conditions and existence or nonexistence of infectious diseases to medical personnel. |
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Prepare your ward during normal times
