Emergency drills and exercises to prepare the initial response and countermeasures for a disaster: an evacuation simulation for the hospital's outpatient blood collection room in the event of an earthquake
Kaneko, M.; Nakao, H.; Morita, K.; Sone, S.; Masuda, A.; Yatomi, Y.
Rinsho Byori. Japanese Journal of Clinical Pathology 61(12): 1101-1106
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 0047-1860 PMID: 24605543 Document Number: 670599
In case of a disaster, the clinical laboratory's departmental staff is not only responsible for recovery efforts of routine work and the continuation of emergency tests, but also for protecting patients against both dangers and possible risks in the blood collecting room and physiology laboratory. For this reason, we decided to participate in an emergency drill, which focuses on the initial response to a disaster, specifically evacuation procedures and the cessation of phlebotomy operations. Since there were no existing manuals regarding disasters in our blood collection room, we first made a draft disaster plan. Additionally, since we were absolute beginners with regard to training and had inadequate knowledge of disaster countermeasures, we conducted theoretical simulations in advance. We decided to explain the evacuation details and had each participant in the exercise perform their own role in accordance with our scenario. Furthermore, we asked the participants to discuss the effectiveness of the training and seek out ways to improve our manuals. Although this was the first practice for the blood collection room, we were able to achieve our first goal by raising awareness of disaster prevention activities. The precautions against disaster that eliminate accidents require an immense amount of time and effort. Thus, it is necessary to continue training in order to increase the staffs awareness of disaster defense and to continue to improve our skills in the future.