Implementation of best practices for emergency response and recovery at a large hospital: A fire emergency case study

This study adopts a qualitative approach to build a retrospective case study that highlights the crucial issues that healthcare crisis managers are requested to face when exposed to thorny work conditions: presence of numerous actors from the public and the private sector, involvement of organizations with contrasting interests, need for a balance among public health, cost containment and legitimacy, etc. The findings of the present investigation expand the theoretical knowledge on the dynamics that characterize crises occurring at critical infrastructures and provide practical recommendations for healthcare emergency managers to improve their response to, and recovery from, major fire emergencies.