Investigation of the preparedness level of the hospitals against disasters in Bandar Abbas, Iran, in 2012

Objective: to determine the preparedness level of hospitals against natural disasters in bandar abbas, iran.methods: the cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in all the 9 hospitals in bandar abbas, iran, during 2012. the required data was collected using a standard checklist comprising 220 items in 10 areas. it was completed for each hospital using observations and interviews. spss 16.0 was used to analyse the data.results: the overall level of preparedness against disasters in bandar abbas hospitals was 38.6%. they were at a poor level in the areas of reception (31.4%), evacuation (28.1%), traffic (33.3%), security (34.6%), communication (30.6%), human resources (38.6%), and commanding and management (20.1%). areas of emergency services (55.1%), training (53.5%), and logistics (53.5%) were moderate, while none of the areas could score enough to be in the good or very good category.conclusion: preparedness was poor and hospital administrators should establish necessary technical and communication infrastructures through sufficient budgets to improve weak areas.