OA Centers for Orthopaedics in Portland complete real-time surgery disaster simulation | Health

OA Centers for Orthopedics completed a successful real-time surgery disaster simulation and patient evacuation Saturday morning working at their outpatient surgery center at Sewall Street in Portland.  The emergency drill was conducted in collaboration with local public safety officials including the Portland Fire Department and the Regional Emergency Management Information System.  Anesthesiologists from Spectrum Medical Group joined OA's surgery center staff to conduct what was the first simulation of its kind in Maine and perhaps the country.  According to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, OA is the first and only outpatient surgery center in the country to conduct this type of real-time simulation.

 A total of 15 patients were evacuated during the drill, which lasted approximately 25 minutes.  A simulated mechanical disaster occurred and emergency alarms sounded.  Three patients undergoing surgery prepped and evacuated one-by-one and transported by rescue vehicle to Maine Medical Center. Patients in pre-op, induction and post op were also successfully evacuated.  The drill lasted approximately 25 minutes from the point the alarms sounded and the last patient was safely transported.

According to Tim Nangle of the Portland Fire Department, in the event of a real emergency, ambulances would have arrived within 5 minutes and the entire evacuation process would have taken significantly less time.   The purpose of the training drill was to prepare OA's personnel for a real situation in which patient evacuations were required.