Hospice Patient Evacuation : A Case for Using a Checklist for Safe Disaster Response
American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®
Published online on March 26, 2013
Abstract
This study was conducted to provide lessons learned from the experience of a small, rural hospice care organization to an actual crisis that required evacuation of the facility. A process improvement framework using the emergency response certification guidelines was used to first provide details of the incident, second analyze the effectiveness of disaster planning and response in response to an actual crisis, and third discuss the postevent review, lessons learned, and process improvement. This case study revealed 5 emerging themes—disaster can happen at the most inopportune times, facilities should focus on the most likely hazards, written agreements are needed even in small tight-knit communities, redundancy of resources is needed, and disaster planning and response is a process that should be continually improved.