title: Vertical evacuation drill of an intensive care unit: design, implementation, and evaluation.
abstract: Hospital disaster plans should be developed to cover any potential event that could require the immediate evacuation of all patients. Intensive care unit (ICU) patients present multiple challenges for planners: reliability of hospital elevators, manpower needed to transport patients, and the time needed for stabilization before patient transfer. If the ICU is located on an upper floor of the hospital and patients have numerous life-support interventions in place, a vertical evacuation can require more resources than anticipated. A study was done using 12 moulaged patients who were carried down 4 flights of stairs. The lessons learned from the drill are reported.
authors.affiliation: Genesys Regional Medical Center Trauma Services, Grand Blanc, MI 48439, USA. pmanion@genesys.org
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manion
authors.forename: Ina J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Golden
mesh_terms: D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008824:Michigan; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D018635:Rescue Work / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration