Section I THE HOSPITAL SAFETY INDEX

he Hospital Safety Index, a tool developed by the Pan American Health Organization and a group of Caribbean and Latin American experts, is being widely used by health authorities to gauge the Toverall level of safety of a hospital or health facility in emergency situations. The Hospital Safety Index helps health facilities to assess their safety and avoid becoming a casu- alty of disasters by providing a snapshot of the probability that a hospital or health facility will con- tinue to function in emergency situations, based on structural, non-structural and functional factors, including the environment and the health services network to which it belongs. By determining a hospital’s Safety Index or score, countries and decision makers will have an over- all idea of its ability to respond to major emergencies and disasters. The Hospital Safety Index does not replace costly and detailed vulnerability studies. However, because it is relatively inexpensive and easy to apply, it is an important first step toward prioritizing a country’s investments in hospital safety. There are a number of steps to calculating a health facility’s Safety Index. General information about the health facility: The hospital’s disaster committee should com- plete this form prior to the evaluation. It includes information on a health facility’s level of complexity, the population it serves, specialty care and other available services, and health staff. Below is a short extract from this form. Click here to print this form.

9 10 SMART HOSPITALS TOOLKIT authorities determine whichfacilities mosturgentlyauthorities needinterventions: tioning. The safety score iscalculated automatically. according to itsrelative to ahospital’s importance to withstandadisaster ability andcontinue func collectively validates thescores andenters them into ascoring calculator, whichweighs eachvariable components. hasbeencompleted, andfunctional structural Once theChecklist theEvaluation Team to assessthelevel ofsafety of145areas ofthehealthfacility, grouped by location, structural, non- evaluating the components of a health facility individually and as part of the health services network. network. ofthehealth services evaluating thecomponents individuallyandaspart ofahealthfacility copies of theseforms health care facilities. point for andreducing in andvulnerability establishingpriorities risk and decisionmakersastarting to improvetines andlookat actions safety inthemediumterm. willgiveThis quickoverview countries The final Safety IndexThe scoreSafety final into places ahealthfacility oneofthree categories ofsafety , helping Safe HospitalsChecklist: The trained team ofEvaluators thenusestheSafe HospitalsChecklist Guide forGuide Evaluators: The Guidefor Evaluators provides guidance andstandardized for criteria from several extract areas oftheform.Below isashort Clickhere to printorphotocopy additional Calculating thesafety score allows healthfacilitiesto establishmaintenance andmonitoring rou-   

tinue functioning indisaster situations.tinue functioning AisforCategory facilitiesdeemedableto protect thelife oftheiroccupants andlikelyto con- risk during disasters. during risk CdesignatesCategory where ahealthfacility thelives andsafety ofoccupants are deemedat are at risk. cal services BisassignedCategory to facilities that canresist adisaster butinwhichequipment- andcriti the Guidefor Evaluators to calculate andinterpret thehealthfacility’s safety score. Clickhere to viewordownload Guide explains themethodology andrationale for aswell theHospitalSafety Index as how hospital directors andotherswho have undergone previous training, usestheGuide. The team ofEvaluators,A multidisciplinary whichcaninclude engineers, architects, health staff, . . - Evaluation of Small and Medium-Sized Health Facilities

This tool uses the same methodology as Hospital Safety Index and has been adapted to the Caribbean. It aims to improve the safety and response capacity of smaller health facilities in emergency situations. In this guide, smaller facilities are defined as those of low complexity, which together with major hospitals, make up the health network. These include primary care facilities that offer certain specialized services (obstetrics and gyne- cology; pediatrics internal medicine and general surgery) and often have 20 beds or less. Health facilities that belong to a country’s health network have different functions. Therefore, achieving an optimal level of safety can be progressive in nature and undertaken in a differ- ent manner than with larger hospitals. Click on the appropriate link below to consult or download information about the Evaluation of Small and Medium-Sized Health Facilities and the forms to calculate your facility’s safety score: Background Information and Guidelines: This comprehensive reference guide discusses the com- ponents of the Evaluation of Small and Medium- Sized Health Facilities and offers guidance on points to consider (structural, non-structural and functional aspects of the facility) as one completes the Safe Hospitals Checklist. Download this material. Safe Hospitals Checklist for Small and Medi- um-Sized Facilities: The evaluation team leader will distribute a copy of the Checklist to each evaluator. I: Section THE HOSPITAL INDEX SAFETY The team is comprised of specialists in a variety of technical areas, who will complete the correspond- ing section the Checklist according to their area of expertise. Below is a short extract from several areas of the form. Click here to download these forms.

11 12 SMART HOSPITALS TOOLKIT Click here to download thisform. Download thecomplete publication Evaluation ofSmallandMedium-Sized HealthFacilities. Intervention Plan: The matrixsummarizes theevaluation’s results andhelpsto plansolutions.