Field Hospitals

Abstract

Background: The need for field hospitals arise when existing health services fall behind in case of a disaster or an emergency. This study is intended to generate a standard level for the capacity of field hospitals with different levels. Methods: In the descriptive study, standard levels (SS) were generated for field hospitals upon assessment of specifications of the field hospital models designed or applied onsite in the literature through content analysis. Results: The field hospitals were standardized in four categories in the research: SS I, SS II, SS III and SS IV. SS is divided into two parts as health units and support services, and their use among the SS's depends on the need. Health units consist of emergency services and transfer to an upper level, and contains specific health units only. SS II allows for short term ambulatory treatment for the patients and contains specific health and support units. Since SS III has fundamental ambulatory care services and SS IV has wide range of ambulatory care services, they contain various health and support units. Conclusions: Specifications of the field hospital SS's were defined in line with the need for health service that might arise during the disaster preparation planning. Key messages: Health and support units forming the field hospital SS's were determined. SS's enables sustainability of the public health services following a disaster.