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Evacuation of a Rural Community Hospital: Lessons Learned from an Unplanned Event
Title: Evacuation of a Rural Community Hospital: Lessons Learned from an Unplanned Event
Date: 2005
Author: Jim Augustine, MD, FACEP, and John T. Schoettmer, MD, DBCEM, DABFP
Institution: Emergency Nurses Association
Bibliographic Entry: Augustine, Jim, and John T. Schoettmer. “Evacuation of a Rural Community Hospital: Lessons Learned from an Unplanned Event.” Disaster Management & Response 3, no. 3 (2005): 68-72.
Electronic Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15986026
Article is copyrighted; access article via a library portal or journal subscription.
Key Words: incident command system (ICS), evacuation plan, evacuation zone
Summary of Key Points, Issues, Conclusions:
This article documents a bomb threat at a rural community hospital that led to the complete evacuation of all 46 patients. Only one patient experienced a possible complication in association with the evacuation. This article addresses strategies and considerations involved in planning and executing a rural hospital evacuation. The roles are also defined of the emergency department medical and nursing staff for during the evacuation process.
Key components of implementing an incident command system included calling together administrators to form a Hospital Incident Command System (ICS); announcing the bomb threat to notify all patients, staff, and medical personnel; and a search conducted by hospital facility engineers along with officers from the police and fire departments. A second bomb threat then led to the actual evacuation of the hospital. Assistance was called for from the regional bomb unit, a Hospital Incident Command Center was formed and roles were designated.
Key factors related to the actual implementation of the evacuation plan include defining the evacuation zone, identifying alternate patient care areas, creating a manpower pool, arranging the transfer of patients, providing care in an outside site, and ensuring communications with staff and the community.
Lessons learned were:
• all staff need incident command system training
• the size of an evacuation zone will vary with the event
• identification of alternate patient care areas and transport needs should be based on the evacuation zone
• financial matters should be considered
Also important are good community relations and the re-evaluation of existing bomb threats/evacuation plans.
Name of Researcher: Alison Stevens
Institution: Integrative Center for Homeland Security, Texas A&M University
Date Posted: April 30, 2008