Citation

Pothiawala S, Charles R, Chow WK, Ang KW, Tan KHL, Tiru M. Ann. Acad. Med. Singapore 2021; 50(9): 712-716.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Academy of Medicine, Singapore)

DOI

10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.2021225

PMID

34625759

Abstract

While armed assailant attacks are rare in the hospital setting, they pose a potential risk to healthcare staff, patients, visitors and the infrastructure. Singapore hospitals have well-developed disaster plans to respond to a mass casualty incident occurring outside the hospital. However, lack of an armed assailant incident response plan can significantly reduce the hospital's ability to appropriately respond to such an incident. The authors describe various strategies that can be adopted in the development of an armed assailant incident response plan. Regular staff training will increase staff resilience and capability to respond to a potential threat in the future. The aim of this article is to highlight the need for the emergency preparedness units of all hospitals to work together with various stakeholders to develop an armed assailant incident response plan. This will be of great benefit for keeping healthcare facilities safe, both for staff as well as for the community.

Language: en