Assessing Patients' Disaster Preparedness in Home-Based Primary Care

The authors conducted 32 semi-structured interviews of Veterans Health Administration Home-Based Care Program staff to explore “ways in which policy and procedures support routine assessment of disaster preparedness for patients as well as patient education activities.” They found that assessments were incomplete and not standardized across practitioners; not all practitioners understood how to assign risk for their patients; and health and functional limitations are the primary contributors to patients’ lack of preparedness.