Although every hospital needs a security plan for the support of immobile patients who do not possess autonomous escape capabilities, little information exists to assist in the development of practical patient evacuation methods.

1) In hospitals during disasters, incident leadership of the fire authorities can be supported effectively by hospital executives experienced in the management of mass casualties; and 2) As an alternative for canvas carry sheets, rescue drag sheets can be employed for emergency, elevator-independent, patient evacuation.

A hospital evacuation exercise was planned and performed to obtain experiences in incident command and to permit calculation of elevator-independent patient transport times. Performance of incident leadership was observed by means of pre-defined checklists. The effectiveness and efficiency of carrying teams with five persons each were compared to those with a rescue drag sheet employed by a single person.

Incident command for hospitals during a disaster is enhanced considerably by pre-defined and trained executives who are placed at the immediate disposal of the fire authorities. For elevator-independent patient transport, the rescue drag sheet was superior to conventional carrying measures because of a reduced number of transport personnel required to move each patient. With this method, patient transport times averaged 54 m/min. flat and 18 seconds for one floor descent.

Experiences from a hospital during an evacuation exercise provided decision criteria for changes in the disaster preparedness plan. Hospital incident leadership was assigned to executives-in-charge in close co-operation with the fire authorities. All beds were equipped with a rescue drag sheet. Both concepts may help to cope with an emergency evacuation of a hospital.