How emergency departments of different levels andtypes cope with a large-scale contagious infectious diseaseis unclear. We retrospectively analyzed the response of100 emergency departments regarding use of personalprotective equipment (PPE) and implementation of infec-tion control measures (ICMs) during the severe acute res-piratory syndrome outbreak in Taiwan. Emergencydepartment workers in large hospitals were more severelyaffected by the epidemic. Large hospitals or public hospi-tals were more likely to use respirators. Small hospitalsimplemented more restrictive ICMs. Most emergencydepartments provided PPE (80%) and implemented ICMs(66%) at late stages of the outbreak. Instructions to usePPE or ICMs more frequently originated by emergencydepartment administrators. The difficulty of implementingICMs was significantly negatively correlated with theireffectiveness. Because ability to prepare for and respond toemerging infectious diseases varies among hospitals,grouping infectious patients in a centralized location in anearly stage of infection may reduce the extent of epidemics
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