Hospital application of the incident management system

The organization of hospitals during an external or internal disaster frequently is defined in the required disaster plan. However, the organizational structure is not uniform. This article describes the incident management system (IMS) established for the organization of out-of-hospital disaster responses and suggests a similar system for use in disaster management within hospitals. Adoption of the Hospital Incident Management System (HIMS) not only would provide a powerful framework for all hospital emergency responses, but it also would provide a necessary link to outside agencies.