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The Challenges of a Vertical Evacuation Drill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Richard J. (RJ) Salway Open the ORCID record for Richard J. (RJ) Salway [Opens in a new window] ,
Zachary Adler ,
Trenika Williams Open the ORCID record for Trenika Williams [Opens in a new window] ,
Francisca Nwoke ,
Patricia Roblin  and
Bonnie Arquilla
Richard J. (RJ) Salway*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York USA
Zachary Adler
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New York USA
Trenika Williams
Affiliation:
Dartmouth School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire USA
Francisca Nwoke
Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New York USA
Patricia Roblin
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York USA
Bonnie Arquilla
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York USA
*
Correspondence: Richard James (RJ) Salway, MD 440 Lenox Road, Suite 2M Brooklyn, New York 11203 USA E-mail: dr.salway@gmail.com
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Abstract

Introduction

Recent natural and infrastructural disasters, such as Hurricanes Sandy (2012) and Katrina (2005) and the Northeastern power outage of 2003, have emphasized the need for hospital staff to be trained in disaster management and response. Even an internal hospital disaster may require the safe and efficient evacuation and transfer of patients with varying medical conditions and complications. A notably susceptible population is renal transplant patients, including those with post-transplant complications.

Hypothesis

This descriptive study evaluated staff performance of a vertical evacuation drill of renal transplant patients at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center – University Hospital Brooklyn (UHB; Brooklyn, New York USA).

Methods

Thirteen standardized patients, 12 of whom received a renal transplant, with varying medical histories, ambulatory ability, and mental status were vertically evacuated by the transplant staff from the eighth floor to the ambulance entrance on the ground floor. Non-ambulatory patients were transported on portable evacuation sleds.

Results

All patients were evacuated successfully within 3.5 hours. On a post-drill evaluation form, drill participants self-reported largely positive results concerning their own role in the drill and the evacuation drill itself. Drill evaluators observed very different results, including staff reticence, poor training retention, and lack of leadership.

Conclusion

Despite encouraging post-drill evaluation results from the participants, the evacuation drill highlighted several immediate deficiencies. It also demonstrated a significant discrepancy in performance perception between the drill participants and the drill evaluators.

SalwayRJ, AdlerZ, WilliamsT, NwokeF, RoblinP, ArquillaB. The Challenges of a Vertical Evacuation Drill. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(1):25–29.

Keywords

disastersemergencieshospital departmentsrenal transplantationsurveys and questionnaires
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 25 - 29
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2018 

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: none

References

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