Disaster preparedness among Thai elderly emergency department patients: a survey of patients’ perspective

Abstract

BackgroundIn disaster situations, the elderly are considered to be a particularly vulnerable population. Preparedness is the key to reduce post-disaster damage. There is limited research in middle-income countries on how well elderly emergency department (ED) patients are prepared for disaster situations. The objective of this study was to determine the attitudes and behavior of elderly ED patients toward disaster preparedness.MethodsThis study was a cross-sectional face-to-face survey at one urban teaching hospital in Bangkok, Thailand between August 1st and September 30th, 2016. Patients aged 60 and older who presented to the ED were included to this study. We excluded patients who had severe dementia [defined as Short Portable Mental State Questionnaires (SPMSQ) > 8], were unable to speak Thai, had severe trauma and/or needed immediate resuscitation. The survey instruction was adapted from previous disaster surveys. This study was approved by the Vajira Institutional Review Board (IRB).ResultsA total of 243 patients were enrolled. Most of them were female [154 patients (63.4%)]. The median age was 72 [Interquartile range (IQR) 66–81] years and the most common underlying diseases were hypertension [148 patients (60.9%)] and diabetes [108 patients (44.4%)]. The majority of patients [172 patients (72.4%)] reported that they had had some teaching about disaster knowledge from a healthcare provider and had experienced a disaster [138 patients (56.8%)]. While 175/197 (81.8%) patients who had underlying diseases reported that they had a medication supply for disaster situations, only 61 (25.1%) patients had an emergency toolbox for disasters. Most patients (159, 65.4%) did not know the emergency telephone number, and 133 (54.7%) patients reported transportation limitations.ConclusionsWhile most Thai elderly ED patients reported having a medication supply for disaster situations, many lacked comprehensive plans for a disaster situation. Work needs to be done to improve the quality of preparedness in disaster situations among elderly patients. Future research should focus on preparedness knowledge regarding evacuation, and shelter/residence for older patients.

Natural Disasters Preparedness Knowledge of Patients with Chronic Diseases in Iran: A Descriptive Study on Patients with Diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran

“…Similar to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2012 Approval, the Emergency Preparedness plan in developed countries, including the US, European countries, and Japan, aims to identify vulnerable people and take legal measures to enhance protection in emergency conditions (36,47,48). This study can contribute to planning for the implementation of a disaster preparedness program for diabetic and COPD patients in a disaster-prone country with an exacerbated prevalence of the two diseases.…”

“…The questionnaire adopted in this study is entitled "preparedness knowledge for disaster" and has been originally used in a study conducted by Jiraporn et al (34)(35)(36). The reason for selecting this questionnaire was that its items were aligned with research objectives and criteria considered by researchers working on diabetic and COPD patients in disasters.…”

“…Axes of the questionnaire included demographic characteristics of patients, items on their knowledge of disasters (n=7) with a Likert scale, items on their personal disaster preparedness (n=8) on a scale of Yes or No, and items on their family and community disaster preparedness (n=4) on a scale of Yes or No (Figure 1) (36). The questionnaire validation steps are presented in Flowchart 2.…”

Studi Kualitatif Keluarga sebagai Potensi dalam Upaya Kesiapsiagaan Bencana pada Lansia

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Tradução e adaptação transcultural do Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) de Pfeiffer para pessoas idosas brasileiras

“…In another recent study carried out in Germany by Schönstein et al 11 , the instrument was used to stratify the risk of older patients in the emergency department. Several studies still use it as a screening for inclusion and exclusion criteria in research, such as that of Sri-on et al 12 , carried out in Thailand.…”