September 11, 2006—In the aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks and the 2005 hurricane season, hospitals are making changes to their buildings and procedures that will help them better deal with unpredicted catastrophes, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article.
New design elements include decontamination showers, isolation rooms for infectious patients, and updates to non-care areas of hospitals, like cafeterias which can double as emergency rooms in case the hospital needs to treat more people than its capacity allows.
In addition, hospitals are coordinating with both each other and with local healthcare organizations to better communicate when a disaster strikes so that they can help the maximum number of people without overwhelming any one hospital. Hospitals have also made information about what disaster-preparedness steps they have taken available online to consumers.
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