Applying the Haddon Matrix to Hospital Earthquake Preparedness and Response

Abstract

Since its 1960s origins, the Haddon matrix has served as a tool to understand and prevent diverse mechanisms of injuries and promote safety. Potential remains for broadened application and innovation of the matrix for disaster preparedness. Hospital functionality and efficiency are particularly important components of community vulnerability in developed and developing nations alike. Given the Haddon matrixʼs user-friendly approach to integrating current engineering concepts, behavioral sciences, and policy dimensions, we seek to apply it in the context of hospital earthquake preparedness and response. The matrixʼs framework lends itself to interdisciplinary planning and collaboration between social and physical sciences, paving the way for a systems-oriented reduction in vulnerabilities. Here, using an associative approach to integrate seemingly disparate social and physical science disciplines yields innovative insights about hospital disaster preparedness for earthquakes. We illustrate detailed examples of pre-event, event, and post-event engineering, behavioral science, and policy factors that hospital planners should evaluate given the complex nature, rapid onset, and broad variation in impact and outcomes of earthquakes. This novel contextual examination of the Haddon matrix can enhance critical infrastructure disaster preparedness across the epidemiologic triad, by integrating essential principles of behavioral sciences, policy, law, and engineering to earthquake preparedness.

Applying the Haddon Matrix to Frontline Care Preparedness and Response in Asymmetric Warfare

“…It is defined by the institutional ability to instill workers' self-efficacy in the roles they will perform and their engagement and value to accomplish the assigned mission. 26 General recommendations for staff exposed to a potentially traumatic event include the immediate provision of psychological first aid and assessment by a mental health professional, within one to three months from the incident, to determine whether further follow-up care is required. To note, pre-deployment programs and research are on-going to build psychological resilience of military and emergency medical personnel before possible exposure to traumatic events.…”

Development of a Haddon Matrix Framework for Higher Education Pandemic Preparedness: Scoping Review and Experiences of Malaysian Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Studies on disaster preparedness and response by IHEs span across multiple disciplines (e.g. management, education, disaster preparedness, legal) (Anparasan and Lejeune, 2017;Cole et al, 2020;Engström et al, 2018;Kakkar et al, 2010;Zhong et al, 2014). Although we did not employ meta-analysis, systematic review methods were utilized to minimize bias in the identification and inclusion of the studies (Daudt et al, 2013).…”

“…We next drew on five existing public health-related Haddon matrices that possess an education component in their matrix construction, i.e. those set in nursing schools (Centers for Disease Control, 2002;Tiwari et al, 2006), medical (Cole et al, 2020;Grosshuesch, 2010) and school transportation services (Edmonston and Sheehan, 2001). We then identified cell items that were not associated with preparedness opportunities for IHEs and removed them.…”

Disaster Management and Relief Operations in Volatile Environments: A Journalistic Survey of the Niger Delta Region (Perspective)

“…The word disaster literally represents a catastrophe, a calamity, a dangerous occurrence within a geographic area that affects people, properties and the environment. Such unexpected events must have caused substantial loss of lives, hardship or sufferings during and after the emergency to man and his habitat (Tas, 2020;Cole et al, 2020;Liern & Perez-Gladish, 2020). The consequences of disasters are at various degrees or magnitudes; grievous damage and destruction of properties, farms are destroyed, shortage of foodstuffs or farm produce, aquatic lives are diminishing, rise in rate of unemployment, astronomical rise in cost of living, economic recession and general degradation of the environment (Paulik et al, 2019).…”