ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Compliance of Colleges and Universities in the United States With Nationally Published Guidelines for Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Jennifer Montgomery Cheung, MD,* Matthew Basiaga, DO,Þ and Robert P. Olympia, MDþ Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the compliance of colleges and universities in the United States with nationally published guidelines by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Education for emergency and disaster preparedness at institutions of higher education. Methods: A questionnaire was electronically distributed to the director of security personnel of 1167 institutions between January 2010 and August 2011. Results: Two hundred twenty-three questionnaires were available for analysis. Although 96% of the institutions had an official emergency and disaster plan, 10% do not practice the plan, 27% have not conducted tabletop exercises, and 20% do not perform after-action reports. Ninetytwo percent of the institutions have a campus-wide communication system. Approximately half of the institutions include disaster preparedness as part of student/faculty employment orientation. Sixteen percent of the institutions have not included their local fire/police/emergency medical services in the development and implementation of their plan, and 31% of the institutions have not discussed preparedness with their local hospital. Whereas 96% of the institutions have established evacuation procedures, 19% have never practiced these procedures, 24% have not designated safe locations on campus, 44% have not designated safe locations in the surrounding community, and 50% do not have methods of transportation in the event of a campus-wide evacuation. Conclusions: Although most of the institutions in our study reported having an emergency and disaster plan based on national recommendations, areas for improvement were identified. Key Words: colleges and universities, emergency and disaster preparedness, campus security (Pediatr Emer Care 2014;30: 319Y326)
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vents such as the coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001; the Hurricane Katrina disaster of August 2005; and more recently, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings have emphasized the importance of disaster preparedness.1,2 Considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs are often associated with mass casualty events. In particular, acts of terrorism, such as the Virginia Tech Massacre of 2007, demonstrate the need for colleges and universities to implement a disaster preparedness plan.3Y7 According to the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, during the 2009 academic year, 20.4 million students were enrolled in degree-granting From the *Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI; and Departments of †Pediatrics and ‡Emergency Medicine & Pediatrics, Penn State Hershey Medical Center/Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, Hershey, PA. Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Reprints: Robert P. Olympia, MD, Emergency Medicine & Pediatrics, Department of Emergency Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, H043, 500 University Drive, PO Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033-0850 (e
Compliance of Colleges and Universities in the United States With Nationally Published Guidelines for Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Jennifer Montgomery Cheung, MD,* Matthew Basiaga, DO,Þ and Robert P. Olympia, MDþ Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the compliance of colleges and universities in the United States with nationally published guidelines by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Education for emergency and disaster preparedness at institutions of higher education. Methods: A questionnaire was electronically distributed to the director of security personnel of 1167 institutions between January 2010 and August 2011. Results: Two hundred twenty-three questionnaires were available for analysis. Although 96% of the institutions had an official emergency and disaster plan, 10% do not practice the plan, 27% have not conducted tabletop exercises, and 20% do not perform after-action reports. Ninetytwo percent of the institutions have a campus-wide communication system. Approximately half of the institutions include disaster preparedness as part of student/faculty employment orientation. Sixteen percent of the institutions have not included their local fire/police/emergency medical services in the development and implementation of their plan, and 31% of the institutions have not discussed preparedness with their local hospital. Whereas 96% of the institutions have established evacuation procedures, 19% have never practiced these procedures, 24% have not designated safe locations on campus, 44% have not designated safe locations in the surrounding community, and 50% do not have methods of transportation in the event of a campus-wide evacuation. Conclusions: Although most of the institutions in our study reported having an emergency and disaster plan based on national recommendations, areas for improvement were identified. Key Words: colleges and universities, emergency and disaster preparedness, campus security (Pediatr Emer Care 2014;30: 319Y326)
E
vents such as the coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001; the Hurricane Katrina disaster of August 2005; and more recently, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings have emphasized the importance of disaster preparedness.1,2 Considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs are often associated with mass casualty events. In particular, acts of terrorism, such as the Virginia Tech Massacre of 2007, demonstrate the need for colleges and universities to implement a disaster preparedness plan.3Y7 According to the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, during the 2009 academic year, 20.4 million students were enrolled in degree-granting From the *Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI; and Departments of †Pediatrics and ‡Emergency Medicine & Pediatrics, Penn State Hershey Medical Center/Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, Hershey, PA. Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Reprints: Robert P. Olympia, MD, Emergency Medicine & Pediatrics, Department of Emergency Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, H043, 500 University Drive, PO Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033-0850 (e
