医院 and other health care facilities across the United States must be prepared for total “full building” evacuations. 尽管罕见的, these events can affect any health care facility and have a significant impact on its operations and the surrounding community. 考虑下面的例子:
- 12月30日, 2021, the fast-moving Marshall Fire in Colorado forced staff members at Centennial Peaks Hospital to evacuate 68 behavioral health patients in less than two hours, while two nearby acute care 医院 were also evacuating.
- In 2022, Hurricane Ian forced at least 16 医院 in central and southwestern Florida to evacuate patients after it made landfall near the city of Fort Myers.
- 2023年2月, all 160 patients at Brockton Signature Hospital in Brockton, 麻萨诸塞州, were fully evacuated and transferred to safety by 70 ambulances after an electrical transformer fire caused the hospital to lose power.
Good and important work is being done around the United States to prepare for health care evacuations – and for good reason. Health care facilities are almost always at high or maximum capacity. 它们也容易受到许多威胁, 包括老化的地方或社区基础设施, 来自自然或人为突发事件的侮辱, 以及对科技的依赖.
While more work still needs to be done in the field of evacuation preparedness for inpatient health care facilities (e.g., 医院, 疗养院), the need for evacuation planning in specialty inpatient health care is gaining greater attention. 医院, 包括专科医院, are learning that patients requiring specialized care present unique challenges for evacuations. 皇家88账户注册包括重症监护, 儿科, 新生儿重症监护病房的病人, 在其他住院人群中.
例如, our team has identified six ways inpatient behavioral health evacuations are different and more complex than traditional inpatient evacuations.
- Staffing and space for behavioral health inpatient facilities/units are extremely limited. The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental 服务, 例如, reported that behavioral health 医院 routinely maintained a patient census of 103% to 105% pre-COVID and that many communities often have 20 patients holding/waiting for an inpatient behavioral health bed at any given time. This would obviously be worse if an entire unit/building evacuates. 新冠肺炎疫情后，患者普查数字有所恶化.
- It is difficult to decompress behavioral health patients rapidly. 不像传统的住院病人, behavioral health patients cannot be discharged quickly or transferred to a lower level of care to create capacity within the system during an emergency.
- Patients may become easily agitated in a rapidly changing emergency. Agitated patients can quickly cause other patients to escalate, 创造一个成倍恶化的挑战.
- 门诊社区资源缺乏. Some outpatient community partners that care for behavioral health patients (e.g., Community Service Boards) may not be engaged with inpatient behavioral health for evacuation or surge planning.
- 患者自残的风险可能会增加, making it necessary to monitor the environment closely to ensure safety. Transportation and space hazards must be carefully assessed and mitigated. 尖锐物品和可能被捆绑的物品-请注意, 在所有的疏散路线上, and at staging areas outside the hospital facility – must be removed. Because of the lack of excess inpatient behavioral beds, alternate care sites may need to be used and would require rigorous safety evaluation.
- 在护理方面还有更严格的规定, 运输/运动, and sheltering of behavioral health patients than traditional health care inpatients. 各州的法律各不相同, 是复杂的, and are often poorly understood by hospital and emergency decision-makers.
作为一个领导者 卫生保健应急准备, Jensen Hughes partners with you to help you navigate your toughest challenges. Using our deep knowledge and vast experience in computer optimization modeling, ADA合规, and full-building evacuation planning and training, 皇家88娱乐作为一个团队共同开发创新, practical solutions for some of the most complex emergency preparedness issues faced by health care organizations. 了解更多有关皇家88娱乐如何帮助您的信息 为任何紧急事件做好准备.
