@ARTICLE{Araghian Mojarad, author = {Yaghoubi, Tahrerh and Araghian Mojarad, Fereshteh and }, title = {Lessons Learned from Emergency Evacuation of Hemodialysis Department: Letter to the Editor}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, abstract ={Dear Editor Patients in the hospitals are exposed to numerous accidents and disasters (1); One of the most important measures after the occurrence of accidents is the emergency evacuation of the affected area to temporary shelters and the provision of relief services (2). In the past, the need for emergency evacuation in most hospitals was considered a far-fetched phenomenon (3). The process of emergency evacuation of the hospital is extremely difficult and complex, and the transfer of patients in case of emergency evacuation and the continuation of medical services is an important challenge, especially in intensive care units such as hemodialysis (4). Hemodialysis is the most common treatment for end-stage chronic renal failure in Iran and the world. Hemodialysis increases the life expectancy of patients but at the same time imposes many limitations on these patients (5). In case of emergency evacuation of the hospital, hemodialysis patients who are receiving continuous medical services in the hospital will face more problems. A key factor in safe and rapid emergency evacuation of the hemodialysis ward is the readiness of the staff (6). The experience of one researcher showed that nurses face many challenges when there is a fire in the hemodialysis ward. The inability to extinguish the fire and spread to the inpatient wards led to the issuance of a complete emergency evacuation order. The main concern of the nurses of the hemodialysis ward was the sudden interruption of the hemodialysis process and the safe departure of patients connected to the device from the accident site. The difficulty of the transfer process is from the lessons learned from the hospital emergency evacuation. Timely, effective and safe evacuation of patients is a prerequisite for safe emergency evacuation in the hospital, but many dialysis service providers have received little or no training for emergency evacuation. Lack of expertise of hospital managers and firefighters to respond effectively to accidents in hemodialysis wards and on the other hand, lack of experience of personnel for rapid transfer of patients makes emergency evacuation conditions in hemodialysis wards more difficult. Because hemodialysis wards are located in advanced medical centers and receive a large number of patients daily, firefighting and emergency evacuation exercises are rarely performed. According to the clinical experiences of researchers, a very important point in the emergency evacuation of the hemodialysis ward is the continuation of the treatment of the patients connected to the hemodialysis machine. Any delay in the treatment plan of hemodialysis patients will cause health problems. Therefore, it is suggested that the following items be emphasized to reduce the challenges of hemodialysis patients in the emergency evacuation process of the hospital. 1. Paying attention to structural and non-structural resilience of hemodialysis wards against fire and earthquake accidents 2. Providing a suitable bed for easy movement of hemodialysis patients in the ward design 3. Access to mobile and removable hemodialysis units 4. Laying the groundwork for new hemodialysis approaches such as home hemodialysis, ambulance design with hemodialysis system 5. Training of staff of clinical wards, especially hemodialysis wards in the field of firefighting and emergency evacuation 6. Performing firefighting and emergency evacuation exercises in hospitals }, URL = {http://jccnursing.com/article-1-599-en.html}, eprint = {http://jccnursing.com/article-1-599-en.pdf}, journal = {Critical Care Nursing}, doi = {10.30491/JCC.15.1.1}, year = {2022} }