This action carries a significant risk to both patients and staff, and would be done only under extreme circumstances at the direction of the Fire Officer in Charge. Where the Emergency Occurs Ambulatory patients, staff, and visitors should be directed to the areas of refuge by the Fire Officer in Charge. Wheelchair patients will be assisted by staff as directed by the Charge Nurse or Medical Officer. Freight elevators may be used when authorized by the Fire Department. If the need for wheelchairs is acute, patients who reach refuge need to yield their chairs so that other patients may be moved.
Staff are also responsible for moving patients on stretchers.
The freight elevators may be used to transport these patients when authorized by the Fire Department. Evacuated Patients Patients requiring continual life support care shall be transported directly to other hospitals in the community by the NIH Fire Department. Ambulatory patients may be directed to other available shelters if total building evacuation is required, depending upon weather conditions and the nature of the emergency. When there is an emergency in an area adjacent to a patient care unit, the fire alarm system will activate alarms in the emergency zone as well as the amber light located across from the nurses station. Staff in the patient care unit should remove equipment and obstructions from the corridor, close all doors on the unit, and outline possible route of evacuation.