External Factors Impacting Hospital Evacuations Caused by Hurricane Rita: The Role of Situational Awareness

Downey, Erin; Andress, Knox; Schultz, Carl H.

doi:10.1017/s1049023x13000125

Cited by 21 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…We found several key elements that facilitated the safe and timely evacuation of our NICU, as similarly described by Downey et al 7,8 in their analysis of the evacuations during Hurricane Rita. These include the following: (1) familiarity with an evacuation plan, including triage strategies; (2) awareness of and determination of appropriate receiving hospitals; (3) determination of transportation resources; and (4) medical…”

Section: Challenges and The Lessons Learnedsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…The major rate-limiting factors in executing a speedy evacuation in our and others'experience were as follows: (1) time spent finding accepting hospital beds, (2) transportation deficits, and (3) communication difficulties and maintaining situational awareness. 4,7 In our experience, finding hospital beds was the most time-consuming step. The varying procedures in different institutions for accepting mass transfers as well as individual hospitals' surge capacities and staffing impacted the speed of finding beds.…”

Section: Challenges and The Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyses of previous disaster experiences reveal that those hospitals that incorporate the fewest outside agencies in developing their disaster contingency plans required the longest time to evacuate their patients. 7 During Irene, our preemptive evacuation was sped up by using the transportation resources of receiving hospitals to complement our own. During Sandy, the availability of FEMA-contracted ambulances was critical.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…2 Bagaria et al 2 found only 69 cases of hospital evacuation published globally between 1979 and 2009, 15 of these occurring in response to hydrometeorologic events. The published data on evacuation of NICUs are even fewer and have come almost exclusively from experiences during Hurricanes Katrina [3][4][5][6] and Rita 7,8 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evacuation of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

et al. 2014

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NICU patients are among those potentially most vulnerable to the effects of natural or man-made disaster on a medical center. The published data on evacuations of NICU patients in the setting of disaster are sparse. In October of 2012, New York University Langone Medical Center was evacuated during Hurricane Sandy in the setting of a power outage secondary to a coastal surge. In this setting, 21 neonates were safely evacuated from the medical center' s NICU to receiving hospitals within New York City in a span of 4.5 hours. Using data recorded during the evacuation and from staff debriefings, we describe the challenges faced and lessons learned during both the power outage and vertical evacuation. From our experience, we identify several elements that are important to the functioning of an NICU in a disaster or to an evacuation that may be incorporated into future NICU-focused disaster planning. These include a clear command structure, backups (personnel, communication, medical information, and equipment), establishing situational awareness, regional coordination, and flexibility as well as special attention to families and to the availability of neonatal transport resources.

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Section: Challenges and The Lessons Learnedsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Challenges and The Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Evacuation of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

et al. 2014

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“…Situational awareness SA is defined as the recognition and understanding of critical events associated with a disaster [23]. SA is crucial for recognizing, responding to, and tempering threats.…”

Section: Disaster Preparedness and Mitigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergency Preparedness and Mass Casualty Considerations for Anesthesiologists

Kuza

McIsaac

2018

Advances in Anesthesia

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Medical Management of the Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Incident

Hachiya¹,

Tominaga²,

Tatsuzaki³

et al. 2013

Drug Development Research

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A huge earthquake struck the northeast coast of the main island of Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a tsunami with 14-15 meter-high waves hitting the area. The earthquake was followed by numerous sustained aftershocks. The earthquake affected the nuclear power plant (NPP) in Fukushima prefecture, resulting in large amounts of radioactive materials being released into the environment. The major nuclides released on land were ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs, and ¹³⁷Cs. Therefore, almost 170,000 people had to be evacuated or stay indoors. Besides the NPP and the telecommunications system, the earthquake also affected infrastructures such as the supplies of water and electricity as well as the radiation monitoring system. The local hospital system was dysfunctional; hospitals designated as radiation-emergency facilities were not able to function because of damage from the earthquake and tsunami, and some of them were located within a 20 km radius of the NPP, the designated evacuation zone. Local fire department personnel were also asked to evacuate. Furthermore, the affected hospitals had not established their evacuation plans at that time. We have learned from this "combined disaster" that the potential for damage to lifelines as well as the monitoring systems for radiation in case of an earthquake requires our intense focus and vigilance, and that hospitals need comprehensive plans for evacuation, including patients requiring life support equipment during and after a nuclear disaster. There is an urgent need for a "combined disaster" strategy, and this should be emphasized in current disaster planning and response.

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External Factors Impacting Hospital Evacuations Caused by Hurricane Rita: The Role of Situational Awareness

Cited by 21 publications

References 8 publications

Evacuation of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

Evacuation of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

Emergency Preparedness and Mass Casualty Considerations for Anesthesiologists

Medical Management of the Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Incident

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