Evacuation is an unpredictable and a dynamic process. The legal and ethical standards should be adhered to during an evacuation activity because of fear of legal action (Pou, 106). There are innumerable uncertain factors that can complicate an evacuation process due to the prevailing circumstances (Wang and Jin-Hua, 1-6). Planning may not address all the eventualities that may arise during an actual evacuation exercise. For instance, a patient under the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) may be predisposed with life-threatening risks or serious harm during an evacuation exercise (King, et al.). Malfunctions associated with institutional internal systems and threats due to external forces may lead to hospital evacuation. However, evacuation planning is subject to lots of risks and the victim's vulnerability factors that must be evaluated and analyzed decisively (Khorram-Manesh, Nero and Örtenwall, n.pag.).
There are several things that can go wrong during an evacuation. People may not be able to locate emergency exits and emergency travel routes. Secondly, the emergency exits may not open in time, or the emergency route may not have proper lighting which may hinder timely evacuations. Thirdly, people may run away instead of congregating at the designated assembly area making it difficult to account for missing persons. Lastly, fear and shock may make people act irrationally. For instance, instead of going to the emergency exit they may run towards the hazard.
There are a number of things that can be done to prevent those things from occurring. Firstly, adequate communication to all stakeholders of the emergency routes and exits should be done. The communication should always be posted in hallways. Secondly, emergency exits and routes should constantly be inspected for any defects or anomalies. Thirdly, drills should be conducted to prepare people for disaster. Lastly, people should be educated on how to act during an emergency and be informed of the need to congregate at a designated assembly area.
Works Cited
Khorram-Manesh, Amir, Carin Nero and Per Örtenwall. “Hospital evacuation; planning, assessment, performance and evaluation.” Journal of Emerging & Disaster Medicine 2.1(2013): n. pag. Web. 28. 2016.
King, Mary A., Alexander S. Niven, William Beninati, Ray Fang, Sharon Einav, Lewis Rubinson, Niranjan Kissoon, Asha V, Devereaux, Michael D. Christian and Colin K. Grissom. “Evacuation of the ICU: Care of the Critically Ill and Injured During Pandemics and Disasters: CHEST Consensus Statement.” Chest 146.4 Suppl. (2014): e44S-e60S. Web. 28. 2016.
Pou Anna M. “Ethical and Legal Challenges in Disaster Medicine.” South Med J. 106.1(2013): 27-30. Web. 28. 2016.
Wang, Jing-Hong and Jin-Hua Sun. “Principal Aspects Regarding to the Emergency Evaluation of Large-scale Crowds: A Brief Review of Literatures Until 2010.” Procedia Engineering 71(2014). 1-6. Web. 28. 2016.
