Emergency evacuation of the Dresden Heart Centre in the flood disaster in Germany 2002: perceptions of patients and psychosocial burdens

Objectives: In a changing climate, flood disaster may not only threaten the health of the population, but may also interfere with the function of its health providers. Few data are available about hospital evacuation in these situations. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of the emergency evacuation of the Dresden Heart Centre in August, 2002, due to the flood disaster along the Elbe, on its 168 critically ill patients, i.e. the patients' perceptions and their psychological stress. Materials and methods: A retrospective survey was started 1 month after the evacuation (T1) and a prospective follow‐up study was carried out 6 months later (T2). The questionnaire consisted of a list of items related to the evacuation as well as standardized psychosocial tools – Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS‐10) and Impact of Event Scale (IES‐R). A module of the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) was applied to validate post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In all, ...