Three decades of hospital evacuations in the Netherlands: A scoping review

Barten, Dennis G.; Fijten, Marjolein H.M.; Gaakeer, Menno; Klokman, Vincent W; Mortelmans, Luc; Osch, Frits van; Peters, Nathalie A L R; Wijnands, Jaap; Tan, Edward; Boin, Arjen

doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103252

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Evacuation decisions are often based on little information [2]. Evaluations of other hospital evacuations show that it is impossible to develop one crisis plan that can be applied to all types of hospital disasters [5]. Some hospitals are more likely to be exposed to certain hazards for geophysical reasons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Addressing a climate emergency amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods study on a hospital evacuation during the 2021 European floods

Wal

Barten

Ketelings

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Introduction: In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods with water levels of the river Meuse reaching a record high. VieCuri Medical Center (Venlo, the Netherlands) is a hospital located directly adjacent to this river, and in response to the flood threat it was decided to completely evacuate the hospital. The aim of this study was to explore the decision-making process of this emergent evacuation. Methods: A mixed-method approach was used. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 key participants closely involved in the evacuation. Quantitative data on the patients that were admitted at the time of the evacuation decision were collected, and included 30-day mortality, 7-day readmission rates and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Results: Three themes were constructed from the interviews: risk-assessment, COVID-19 experience and collaboration. Participants highlighted the role of previous experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of a national patient coordination center enabled to rapidly assess capacity of potential destination hospitals. Furthermore, the hospital preparedness for evacuation could be improved by a thorough analysis of locoregional hazards and preparing for loss of regional healthcare capacity. Findings unrelated to decision-making included the inefficiency of large-scale ambulance dispatches and the expansion of business continuity plans. No patients died unanticipated during this hospital evacuation or within 30 days. Conclusion: Experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of a national patient coordination center were found to be decisive in performing this evacuation. This allowed for the swift identification of available capacity in appropriate destination hospitals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IHCDs commonly occur and are frequently associated with the evacuation of patients [1]. Previous studies have shown that hospitals' crisis plans could be improved with regards to evacuation planning [2,3,4,5]. Evacuation plans are often lacking [3,4] not updated, or hardly practiced [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing a climate emergency amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-methods study on a hospital evacuation during the 2021 European floods

Wal

Barten

Ketelings

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Building fires are distressing because they can endanger human life and destroy property [11][12][13][14][15]. The frequency of hospital fires and their potentially serious consequences in recent years is distressing [16]. Some common reasons may be known as the origin of hospital building fires.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Characteristics of Hospital Building Fires in Iran

Fallah-Aliabadi,

Abbasian,

Khajehaminian

2023

HDQ

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Background: Building fires are the most common threatening and distressing hazard in hospitals. Fire is one of the top 10 hazards that threaten Iranian hospitals. Nevertheless, no study has been done on the features of fires in Iran hospitals. So, this study aimed to investigate the characteristics of fires taking place in Iranian hospitals. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, news related to fire broke out in Iranian hospitals was retrieved from the archive of 5 reputable Persian news agencies using the Persian search terms: “Fire”, “hospital”, and “clinic”. Quantitative content analysis was used to assess retrieved news text. Data gathered by the Emergency Operation Center of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education were also studied. Results: In total, 86 incident reports were assessed for the period spanning from 2005 to 2020, with more than half accessed just through reputable news agencies. The electrical short circuit was the most reported incident cause, and the medical care environment was the most reported place of incident. Twenty-five incident reports indicated that partial or complete emergency evacuation was executed. Conclusion: It is imperative to raise awareness about the lack of an integrated mechanism for registering such incidents. Future research can be conducted designing a critical registry system that collects, analyzes, and disseminates hospital incident data.

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