Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTThe staff of an Australian hospital faced significant challenges in evacuating the whole hospital due to unprecedented flooding. A retrospective study of those challenges and consequent adaptations was conducted to capture lessons for better preparedness. Semi‐structured interviews with seven clinicians and nurse managers in critical roles during the evacuation were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted in NVivo 14 to capture the themes emerging from the interview transcripts. Communication disruption, lack of knowledge of evacuation plan, staff shortage due to floods, crowd control of numerous volunteers, difficulties with ambulance service and insufficient information on field hospital's site and requirements, were the major challenges that the flood‐affected hospital's staff faced during evacuation. The staff improvised by conducting a reverse triage of patients that were tracked throughout evacuation. Additional adaptations included usage of private cars, buses and maxi taxis to transport equipment, medication and supplies. Despite being rare, whole hospital evacuations cannot be ruled out at a time when climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of disasters. This research identifies lessons to enhance disaster preparedness for potential hospital evacuations.

Background: Post-evacuation return after mandatory hospital evacuation due to complicated disasters is often overlooked and not well-discussed. Aims: In this study, we explored the factors which are related to the ease or difficulty of the post-evacuation return to Fukushima prefecture of psychiatric inpatients who had been evacuated to hospitals outside the prefecture because of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Method: This retrospective cohort study included evacuated psychiatric hospital inpatients who were registered in the Matching Project for Community Transition (MPCT) and had been traced until July 31, 2019. A total of 531 patients were included for the analyses. Univariable and multivariable analysis were conducted to detect the patients' traits including their psychiatric/physical backgrounds which were associated with their outcome – the time from GEJE to the date of return to Fukushima. Results: Over half of the patients returned to Fukushima. In the multivariable analysis, the patients' gender (male), age (older), and psychiatric diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (ICD-10, F20–29) showed lower hazard ratio (HR) and statistically significant association with the difficulties of post-evacuation return. Meanwhile, disorders of psychological development (F80–89), diseases of the nervous (G00–99, except G40–41) and genitourinary (N00–99) systems showed higher HR and statistically significant association with the ease of return. Conclusions: The specific characteristics of the psychiatric inpatients including their psychiatric and physical status are associated with their post-evacuation return to their hometown. These results indicated that the evacuated hospitals' practitioners and staffs from the MPCT understood the necessity of the earlier return of inpatients to their hometown. Moreover, clinicians should pay more attention to some symptoms unique to psychiatric patients which contributed to their difficulties in returning safely or expressing their hope to return.

Emergency evacuation during a disaster may have serious health implications in vulnerable populations. After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in March 2011, the Japanese central government immediately issued an evacuation order for residents living near the plant. There is limited information on the process of evacuation from medical institutions within the evacuation zone and the challenges faced. This study collected and analyzed publicly available resources related to the Futaba Kosei Hospital, located 3.9 km northwest of the FDNPP, and reviewed the hospital's evacuation procedures. On the day of the accident at the FDNPP, 136 patients were admitted in the aforementioned hospital. The hospital's director received information about the situation at the FDNPP from the local disaster task force and requested the immediate evacuation of all patients. Consequently, four patients, including those with an end-stage condition, died during the evacuation. Early intervention by external organizations, such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces, helped the hospital to complete the evacuation without facing major issues. However, despite such an efficient evacuation, the death of four patients suggests that a significant burden is placed on vulnerable people during emergency hospital evacuations. Those with compromised health experience a heavy burden during a nuclear disaster. It is necessary for hospitals located close to a nuclear power plant to develop a more detailed evacuation plan by determining the methods of communication with external organizations that could provide support during evacuation to minimize the burden on vulnerable patients.

In the article, based on archival records, memoirs and documents, periodical materials, as well as scientific literature, we tried to highlight the organization in the Dagestan ASSR of one of the largest evacuation hospitals of the People's Commissariat of Health of the USSR No. 1614 during the Great Patriotic War, which received frontline status as the front line advanced to the borders of Dagestan in 1942 and the unfolding battle for The Caucasus. The selfless and heroic work of doctors and medical staff of the evacuation hospital to provide unin-terrupted qualified medical care to wounded soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army is characterized. The weighty assistance of the leadership of the DASSR, the Ministry of Health of the Republic in organizing the hospital, as well as the residents of Dagestan, who surrounded their defenders with attention and organized a patriotic initiative in the form of fundraising for the Republican Committee for Assistance to Wounded and Sick Soldiers, is considered.

Typescript transcribing diary entries made by Dr. Edgar R. Hyde during his service with the 91st Evacuation Hospital during World War II. The typescript transcription was produced for the Friends of the Kreitzberg Library's Military Service Project in approximately 1980. Diary entries begin on 12 December 1942 and end on 21 September 1945. ; Covers of the original bound typescript not scanned.