Patient needs in evacuation of a tertiary oncology center

Abstract

To inform ongoing contingency planning, hospital staff conducted a cross-sectional survey of patients' needs in the event of a full-facility evacuation of a tertiary oncology center. Both outpatients and inpatients were included. Of the total of 269 patients, 76.6 percent were able to evacuate by walking out of the hospital and be transported sitting. Only 30 patients needed evacuation by an ambulance. Assessment of the lowest acceptable level of care after evacuation revealed that 66.5 percent of the patients could be discharged to their own home, including 40.8 percent of all inpatients. Due to the need to continue specialized cancer treatment, fewer patients could be transferred to other hospitals than found in previous studies of general acute care hospitals.