Across the country, hospitals’ best-laid plans upended by disaster

IN THE NEWS: USA Today spoke with UCI Health disaster medicine expert Carl Schultz, MD, about the affect the numerous natural disasters and human-caused crises had on the nation’s hospitals:

America’s hospitals were beset by an unusual number of calamities in 2017… Across the country, natural disasters have become more frequent and deadly. The carnage from mass shootings resembles that on a battlefield. Some of these crises are more severe and elaborate than most hospitals — particularly smaller ones — are prepared for.

“All hospitals are potentially vulnerable,” said Dr. Carl Schultz, professor emeritus of emergency medicine and public health at the University of California, Irvine. And “there is more pressure for hospitals to be prepared.”

In the new year, hospitals that responded to outsized tragedies in 2017 are reassessing their plans in light of their painful experiences.

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• Hospitals’ best-laid plans upended by disaster