Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe the successful evacuation of an entire hospital from New Orleans, LA to Memphis, TN on a weekend night. The evacuation occurred shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and included 73 acute psychiatric patients. Thirty-five staff and their families also participated in the evacuation.

Methods:  This qualitative study used the Naturalistic Inquiry Method. A semi-structured interview guide was used to interview 7 members of the hospital executive team. Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using a method of constant comparison, themes and subthemes were identified. Similar data was grouped and converged into five themes. 

Results:  The five themes identified were: communication, planning/organization, bus travel, human response to disaster and returning home. Underlying all themes is the need to effectively respond to an emergency situation in a limited time.

Conclusions:  This study is significant because little is known about how to implement a disaster plan that involves the transport of an entire hospital—patients, nurses and other staff--to another city. Not only is this important for hospital evacuation, but knowledge learned can benefit other nurse leaders and their organizations when establishing or modifying their disaster plans.

Learning Objectives:  Participants will be able to describe: 1) various factors nurse leaders should consider when planning to evacuate a hospital in an emergency situation and 2) travel by bus of one hospital, including patients, staff, and critical resources, to another hospital.