[Are we prepared for a disaster? Spanish multicentre study]

Introduction: Paediatric Emergency Departments (PED) should have written disaster plans, to ensure a rapid and efficient response.

Objectives: 1) to determine if Spanish PED have written disaster plans, 2) to describe the characteristics of these plans, and 3) if paediatric victims were included in them.

Material and methods: Descriptive multicentre study based on questionnaires sent to physicians in charge of different Spanish PED. The structured survey included questions about external emergency plans (EEP) and internal emergency plans (IEP).

Results: Twenty-five out of 44 surveys were replied. Eighteen PED had an EEP, most of them had been written 10 years ago and were reviewed every 3 years or more. In 11/18 PED, the EEP was well-known by health care providers. Drills were never performed in 13/18 PED. Twenty-one PED had an IEP, most of them had been written 8 years ago and were reviewed every 3 years or more. In 13/21 PED, IEP was well-known by health care providers but drills were never performed in 12/21 PED. IEP included evacuation plans (22), fire emergency plans (19), bomb threat plan (13) and flood plans (9). Nine PED have paediatric-specific disaster plans and in 7 PED, disaster plans included adult and paediatric victims. Children were not included In 1 EEP and in 5 IEP.

Conclusions: Most of PED have written disaster plans, but these plans are old, unknown by health care providers and almost half of them do not include paediatric victims. It is necessary to improve disaster planning in Spanish PED.