IMPLEMENTAÇÃO DA "ESTRATÉGIA DE HOSPITAIS SEGUROS FRENTE A DESASTRES" NO BRASIL: DESAFIOS E EVIDÊNCIAS EMPÍRICAS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE "HOSPITAL SAFE FROM DISASTERS" STRATEGY IN BRAZIL: CHALLENGES AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Objetive: To estimate the Hospital Safety Index for three hospitals in the Northwest Region of the of Rio de Janeiro State, an area regularly hit by natural disasters. Method: The Safe Hospitals assessment strategy proposed by the Pan American Health Organization was adopted. In each hospital, a Safe Hospitals Evaluation Form was applied, focusing on structural, nonstructural and functional capacity regarding disaster response for each of the services analyzed. Based on collected data, we calculated the probability of hospital functioning in disaster situations, for each of the three evaluation components, which allowed the estimation of the global Hospital Safety Index. Results: The three evaluated hospitals were classified as intermediate risk (level B of the Hospital Safety Index), and the higher complexity hospital presented the best value of the measure (0.63). The structural components presented the better results for all the three hospitals. Conclusion: This study evidenced the feasibility of implementing the Safe Hospitals strategy and the applicability of the Hospital Safety Index in Brazilian hospitals. Some political and institutional challenges for the implementation of this health policy are identified and discussed, aiming to their overcoming.