Abstract

Medical facilities, while providing both essential and demanding health care to society’s most vulnerable populations, also belong to the most demanding category of risk to human life if and when a crisis event occurs within its walls. The development of a safe evacuation plan for these facilities is extremely complicated, as the evacuation of medical facilities is much more complex than for other critical infrastructure. In this category, the evacuated patients constitute a specific risk group requiring specialized medical care. Hospitalized persons may be dependent on life-saving measures, are unconscious or immobile, are significantly restricted in movement or mentally unbalanced, being dependent on the continued assistance of trained third parties. Additionally, the medical transport of evacuated patients becomes more difficult due to the limited capacity of ambulances and available health care facilities to transport them to, which are increasingly limited due to their overcrowded census. The study aimed to analyze the requirements which are placed on hospitals in Poland to ensure the safety of patients in case of an evacuation. The research method used in the paper was retrospective analysis and evaluation of the media and literature. We have found, that Polish law imposes an obligation on the administrator of a medical facility to ensure the safety of both patients and employees. The regulations cover issues of technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location, prevention, and fire protection requirements, and the determination of which staff is responsible for the evacuation. However, available documents fail to describe what the hospital evacuation process itself should entail under emergency evacuation. Taking into account the complexity of the hospital evacuation process, health care facilities should have a well-developed plan of action that must be implemented at least once a year in the form of facility-wide training. Evacuation drills should not be avoided. Only trained procedures offer the possibility of later analysis to identify and eliminate errors and provide the opportunity to acquire skill sets and habits which promote the behaviors expected in real-life emergencies.

Highlights

  • Following the regulations in force in Poland, there are five categories of human hazards, which are defined by codes from abbreviations HH I to HH V [1]

  • [9].and regardless ofof their official position type of Manual specifies the Evacuation drills the allow checking,ofinthe practice, whether orand not alarm the plan has been designed designed correctly, including operation communication system, and the Evacuation drills allow checking, in practice, whether or not the plan been requirements of fire protection in organizational, technical, and orderly terms, which musthas be taken correctly,ofincluding the operation ofservices the communication alarm system, and the cooperation of both cooperation both the andthe other involved inand theThe evacuation process on site.the designed correctly, including of the communication andpreparing alarm directly system, and into account subject to staff working in operation any particular building

  • Preparing an evacuation plan for a medical facility, making it known to all staff, and regularly conducting evacuation drills is a necessary prerequisite for ensuring the safety of patients and staff

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Summary

Introduction

Following the regulations in force in Poland, there are five categories of human hazards (human hazards – HH), which are defined by codes from abbreviations HH I to HH V [1]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1779 technical conditions, belong to the most demanding category of risk to human life HH II, which includes all healthcare facilities intended primarily for use by people with reduced mobility (e.g. kindergartens, hospitals, nursing homes, retirement homes, hospices, etc.). The action is supervised by the hospital management in consultation with the firefighters, police and voivode (the regional representatives of the governmental administration). Such facilities are subject to additional technical requirements that impact success or failure in case of a sudden evacuation. An extended displacement period following an evacuation exacerbates the situation [2]

Material and Methods
Evacuation of Hospital Facilities in Poland
Hospital Safety – Legal Liability
Hospital
Triage Management
Conclusions and Recommendations
Full Text
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