Nursing Care Evacuation Procedure
Shawn Folks • January 7, 2019
Depending on the location of the fire, residents may be evacuated to another portion of the building, rather than total community evacuation. However, in the event that a partial or complete evacuation of the building becomes necessary, the following procedure shall be followed:
- The shift supervisor/charge nurse shall immediately contact the Administrator, Maintenance Director, and Director of Nursing, if they are not yet present.
- Once the Administrator, Director of Nursing, or Maintenance Director arrives and determines that the situation requires evacuation, the call tree shall be put into effect in order to obtain available persons to evacuate the residents to safety.
Administrator contacts: Medical Records and Business Office personnel
Director of Nursing contacts: Social Worker and Activity Director
Maintenance Director contacts: Housekeeping/Laundry Supervisor and Dietary Manager - Once Business Office and Medical Records personnel arrive, they shall contact department managers and other off-duty personnel to come and assist with the evacuation.
- A command center shall be established per the Administrator’s direction. This should be in a convenient location out of the line of danger.
- The Administrator, or highest-ranking person at scene, shall become the “Incident Command Manager” in order to direct people to areas needing assistance.
- Alternate placement for residents must be arranged. The Administrator, or highest-ranking person at the scene, shall designate someone to coordinate a shelter.
- This can be arranged by calling 9-1-1 and requesting a shelter or contacting other LTC communities or organizations who have established mutual aid agreements.
- Residents should be evacuated in this order: residents in immediate danger, non-ambulatory or bedridden residents, wheelchair residents, and ambulatory residents.
- The Administrator or highest-ranking person on scene, shall assign a second person to coordinate transportation.
- Once a shelter is arranged, the Incident Command Manager shall designate a meeting spot outside of the building. Residents shall be evacuated from the building in an orderly fashion.
- All departmental personnel shall report to the designated location with the supplies they are assigned to gather.
- Medical Records personnel shall be responsible for tagging and identifying all residents upon evacuation. They shall be responsible for ensuring that the residents’ medical records are transported with the resident.
- Nursing personnel will be responsible for caring for residents. The Charge Nurse shall be responsible for taking the Med Cart to the meeting spot.
- Housekeeping and Laundry personnel will be responsible for gather all linens and supplies needed for resident care. If possible, attempts should be made to gather resident clothing also.
- Dietary personnel will be responsible for gathering food and dietary supplies.
- The Social Worker will be responsible for contacting family members to notify them of the disaster and where residents are being transported.
- The Social Worker may also have to reassure and supervise family members and on-lookers that may arrive on the scene.
- The Activities personnel shall be assisted whenever needed. The Activities personnel shall also be responsible for the community pets.
- The Business Office Manager shall gather all departmental employee schedules and the employee roster, as well as other pertinent business office supplies and records.
- The Administrator, or designated person, shall check all rooms before leaving the grounds. An “X” should be marked on each door to verify that the room is empty.
- All available staff members shall assist with a last walk through of the building to ensure that no residents or staff members are left behind.
- Once everyone has been evacuated and all supplies gathered, boarding of residents and supplies for relocation shall begin in an orderly fashion.
- The Social Worker shall be responsible for keeping an official roster with names of residents, staff, board members, and volunteers present at the time of disaster and during evacuation. Information to be recorded shall include:
- Name of resident and next of kin/responsible party
- Shelter transferred to and person accompanying resident
- Medications, med sheet, and chart sent with resident to location of transfer.
At Guarantee Restoration, we understand that disasters happen when you least expect them. Use this as a guideline for your team to understand emergency evacuation procedures. If you experience a disaster, give us a call at 1-800-349-4357.
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