Česky
The topic of the exercise was the evacuation of patients and staff during a fire on the second floor of the Hořovice hospital and the related rescue of hospitalised persons. The hospital took advantage of the temporary relocation of the A&E department due to reconstruction and was able to use the empty space to simulate the fire. The whole event took place according to a pre-arranged scenario, with volunteers from the staff acting as patients. According to this scenario, the simulated initial attempt to eliminate the fire by the staff was unsuccessful and the fire brigade was immediately called and further actions were already coordinated between them and the paramedics. In accordance with the hospital's internal guidelines, additional hospital medical staff were called in a very short time to provide assistance to the evacuated patients and help with their placement in other inpatient wards of the hospital. The fire evacuation simulation was designed by the hospital's own forces in cooperation with the fire brigade, but without the need to cooperate with the ambulance service and other hospitals.
The whole staff of the department was involved in the action under the leadership of an experienced rescuer Bc. Rostislav Hájek, who is also the head nurse of the anaesthesiology and resuscitation department. This paramedic was also the engine of the whole event. "I am glad that we had the opportunity to test our preparedness for such a crisis situation as a fire. At the same time, I would like to thank all the medical and non-medical staff of my department, without whose personal commitment the event could not have been successful. Without them, I would not have been able to do it," adds the Hořovice paramedic. In total, 14 patients were evacuated during the event, which represents the normal capacity of this department. The exercise was attended by firefighters from Hořovice, Beroun, Hostomice, Komárov, Žebrák and Lochovice, as well as firefighting experts and hospital management.
"Patient evacuation is a demanding and complex procedure that is very difficult to practice in full hospital operation. We purposely chose the option where a fire would endanger our most difficult patients- mostly unable to walk or even unconscious or dependent on breathing apparatus. In doing so, we wanted to test and rehearse a solution to the most logistically complex evacuation of fire-threatened patients, so as to reduce the potential risk of their disability should this tragedy occur in the future. I would like to thank the cooperating fire brigades, which not only handled the destruction of the fire and the assistance in the evacuation of people professionally, but also simulated the situation in a fire very realistically, including the smoking of the premises, so that the training then took place in an almost realistic setting. For the exemplary preparation of the whole event and its coordination with the firefighters, I have to thank especially Ms. Blanka Hošková and for the exemplary representation of the team of paramedics led by bachelor Rostislav Hájek. I would like to thank all our employees who took part in the event in their off-hours, both as patients and as paramedics. I am proud that our hospital has paramedics who could save even our most difficult patients in such a difficult situation as a hospital fire, " says MUDr. Michal Průša, the hospital director.
Invited experts measured and recorded all the important time data and recorded the entire procedure of the exercise. Of course, they took photo documentation, while the firefighters themselves carried out the evaluation. The exercise fulfilled its objective thanks to the perfect preparation and cooperation of the paramedics who did not hesitate to join the event even outside their working hours. The staff of other departments also expressed their praise and would welcome a repetition of a similar event in their departments. Many thanks to all the paramedics, firefighters and others involved for the preparation and implementation of the evacuation event.
