A Physical-organizational Method for the Functionality Assessment of A Hospital Subjected to Earthquakes

ABSTRACT

Hospitals play vital roles in mitigation and recovery in earthquake-hit communities. This paper aims to clarify the effect of physical damage on hospital organizations and represent a holistic method for the functionality assessment of a hospital. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated based on the case study of a general hospital. The results indicate that the functionality of hospitals would be significantly affected after the maximum considered earthquake. A considerable gap exists between the hospital treatment capacity and the patient demand for medical services. The method will assist hospital stakeholders and managers in design and upgrade criteria selection.

Abbreviation: CT: Imaging Procedure; DBE: Design Basis Earthquake; DES: Discrete Event Simulation; DR: Digital Radiography; EDPs: Engineering Demand Parameters; HVAC: Heating Ventilation and Air Conditions; MCE: Maximum Considered Earthquake; OR: Operation Room; PFA: Peak Floor Acceleration; PFV: Peak Floor Velocity; PIDR: Peak Inter-story Drift ratio; RC: Reinforced Concrete; RIDR: Residual Inter-story Drift Ratio; RR: Resuscitation Room; SLE: Service Level Earthquake; UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply; US: Ultrasound Room; WT: Waiting Time

KEYWORDS:

• Seismic assessment
• hospital functionality
• earthquake-induced damage
• fault tree analysis
• discrete event simulation

Acknowledgments

This investigation is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51825801,51938004), Heilongjiang Province Natural Science Joint Guidance Project (LH2019G006), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018T110305 and 2016M601430). These supports are much appreciated. The authors thank the experts and managers at Harbin Medical University and Hospital of Harbin Institute of Technology for providing valuable advice on preparing this work. Our deepest gratitude goes to the anonymous reviewers for their careful work and thoughtful suggestions that have helped improve this paper substantially.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Data Availability Statement

The data about injury type and severity, detailed treatment process, and spent time in surgeries are available from the National Science Data Center - Clinical Science Data Sharing Project. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available [https://www.ncmi.cn/index.html] with the permission of the National Science Data Center.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [51825801, 51938004]; Heilongjiang Province Natural Science Joint Guidance Project [LH2019G006]; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2018T110305, 2016M601430].