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Introduction: One of the most important challenges of our time is the need to have a system of disaster management to confront the natural and man made disasters. In order to set in place such a system in a country, there is an essential necessity to design a special organizational structure in the areas of disaster management. The main objective of this study was to design a structural model for disaster management in Iran. Methods: This is a comparative study with an applied proposed model. In planning this structure of disaster management, the study is based on institutional structures of United Stats of America, Japan, Australia, India, Turkey and Indonesia in comparison with Iran. The information used in this study has been researched both from first hand scientific and bibliographical sources mainly from foreign sources like books, scientific magazines, official reports which have been obtained directly from databases in the related countries and domestic printed and official published documents. In planning the structural research model, the original model was based on comparative studies and situational analysis of related countries. This model was conceived using Delphi scientific technique and put for scrutiny by 30 of scientific scholars and professionals in the field of disaster management and then the final model was proposed. Results: The results of studies in selected countries showed that: developed countries have an organizational structure for disaster management that is able to respond to natural and man made disasters in one centralized command structure with a structural pattern that enjoys a high degree of centralized complexity and formal structure. Meantime the results in most countries studied showed that the structure of disaster management is in the form of exclusive independent organization under the countries highest executive's authorities. Most countries attention to the whole system of organizing disaster management is focused on process of mitigation, forecasting, preparedness, response and recovery. The pattern designed in this study was also prepared based on the findings of this study's conclusion , like considering basic plan a centralized unique organization for natural and man made disasters a high level council in macro level and other levels with a need to categorize the delivery services in accordance with the conditions of Iran was proposed. Conclusion: Paying attention to Iran's vastness variety of disasters and its degree of strength necessity of existence of a prevailing plan, a need for a new organizational structure is felt as one of the countries' essential needs in the field of disaster management. Use of a suitable and deserving structural model will lead to increase economic advantage, reduction of beurocratic barriers and speeding up disaster management related activities.

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Introduction: Hospitals are among the most important centers at the time of disasters. Knowing the factors affecting disaster management is essential to face with disasters successfully. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize effective factors of disaster management in Hormozgan province hospitals.
Method: This study is an applied descriptive survey conducted in three stages in 2016. In order to identify the main components of disaster management in hospitals, a literature review followed by a Delphi method were used to identify the factors affecting disaster management. The instrument of the study was a researcher-made questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed by the expert judgment method and the reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Pearson correlation method (0. 89). Moreover, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to prioritize the effective factors.
 Results: The most important factors influencing in prevention, preparation, response, and the reconstruction stage were the standardization of medical facilities (weight 0. 02975), development of a strategic response plan in the treatment area of province (0. 02895(, creation of an advanced treatment area at the site of the accident (weight 0. 02834(, and the pursuit of staff and health facilities reconstruction and modernization (weight 0. 02865), respectively.
Conclusion: The findings of the study suggest to develop a strategic response plan in priority programs for further preparation and planning against disasters. The effective factors identified for this research can be used as a guide to achieve preparedness against disasters.
 

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Introduction: Benchmarking is one of the superior methods and processes for performance and organizational improvement. This study was conducted to determine benchmarking rate of disaster management committee members in Iranian public hospitals in effective disaster response.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The research community was Iranian public hospitals that were randomly selected based on spatial planning. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire including two parts of individual variables, and amount and technique of benchmarking using 14 open-ended and closed-ended questions. The data were analyzed by SPSS-23 software.
Results: Out of 410 members available from the hospital crisis and disaster management committee who were studied, 103 persons (25.1%) had from 1 to 8 benchmarking cases during the period of cooperation with this committee, and a total of 237 cases of benchmarking were recorded. Thus, the mean number of benchmarking cases was 0.58±1.2. Thus, the mean score of benchmarking was 0.58±1.2. There was a significant relationship among the number of benchmarking cases and the duration of cooperation in the Disaster Management Committee (P=0.001 & r=+0.177), the number of active beds in the hospital (P=0.024 & r=+0.117), educational level (P=0.029 & r=+0.109), and the city of hospital (28.4% in metropolitan areas and 15.9% in non-metropolitan areas) (P=0.010).
Conclusion: This study showed that benchmarking rate per capita among the studied members was in a lower level compared to other similar studies. Therefore, it is suggested that appropriate intervention programs be designed and implemented.