GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
ME 2110 - Creative Decisions and Design
Fall 2011
STUDIO III
INTRODUCTORY DESIGN PROJECT: FAQ
Rescuers
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Who is the customer (Hospital, Government Agency, etc)? Government agency.
How quickly does it need to be implemented? For next year’s hurricane season.
How large is the rescue team? Teams are usually 3-6 people, but they can be resized.
What is the training of the rescue team (volunteer, national guard, etc.)? They have basic fire and
EMS training.
5. What are the required communication and tracking needs? The rescue team carries all communication
and tracking equipment on their person.
6. Are there certain colors that rescue teams identify with? Rescue teams are usually identified with red
and white (see the coast guard).
Hospital
7. Does the hospital have power? It did before the flood and it has backup generators but there is never a
guarantee that those could not fail.
8. Will there be lighting in the hospital? If there is still power.
9. Would elevators be working under these circumstances? If there is still power.
10. How tall is the building? Urban hospitals can be up to 8 stories tall.
11. How many floors are flooded? Those that are 3-10ft above street level.
12. Which floor is the intensive care unit on? It depends on the hospital.
13. Is the intensive care unit of the hospital occupying the entire floor or just a part of the floor? They can
occupy either an entire floor, part of a floor, or multiple floors.
14. What is the average and max height of the floor that should be expected to rescue patients from?
Urban hospitals are usually pretty modern and follow standard regulations regarding hospital
dimensions.
15. What are the dimensions of the doors and windows inside the hospital? Again these follow
regulations.
16. Is the Heli-pad functional? The roof is not flooded.
17. Are any doctors/nurses injured? Some hospital workers will still be tending patients and some could
be injured.
18. Is the hospital damaged, i.e. windows broken or walls down? The hospital could be damaged.
However, rescue teams are only allowed to enter structurally safe buildings.
19. How obstructed is the path to the patient? Well the hospital could have shelves, equipment, etc. that
has moved during the disaster along with structural obstructions.
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20. What are the dimensions of the bed? Bed sizes can vary but the average intensive unit bed is 2.15m
long x 0.95m wide x 0.63-1.03m tall depending on the back tilt position.
21. How heavy are the typical hospital beds? Approximately 300 lbs.
22. Where are all of the access points located on the hospital? In various locations. There is always a roof
exit, several ground exits, and possibly an attached parking garage. That depends on the hospital
though.
23. Is there an escape ladder on the outside of the hospital? Probably not on modern hospitals.
24. How much damage to the hospital would be tolerated in rescuing patients? Well the building already
has significant damage due to flooding so more minor damage can be tolerable if it will save lives.
The integrity of the building just cannot be jeopardized.
25. Can alterations be made to the bed? Yes, if it will save the patient’s life.
26. Is there a way for the beds to access the roof? Well there is an elevator and stairs that lead to the roof.
27. What is the size of the doors for the critical care section of the hospital? Those follow building codes.
The bed is able to at least roll in and out of each room.
28. What are the minimum hallway dimensions of the hospital? Those follow building codes. The beds
are able to at least roll around the hospital.
29. What is the capacity of the hospital? It varies from location-to-location, site-to-site.
Patients
30. How many patients should this transport? Well they all will need to be rescued.
31. How many critical patients are there verses regular patients? Hospitals have anywhere from a 15:1 to
5:1 regular-to-critical-care patient ratio.
32. Can the patients be transferred from their bed? Well some of them are heavily sedated and attached to
their bed via their lifelines. They could also be in a very fragile physiological state.
33. What is the status of the patient? The patient could be sedated, active, or anywhere in between.
34. Will the patients be in need of food/fresh water? Yes, the stranded need sustenance. How much
depends on the situation particulars.
35. Do we need to bring extra supplies/medicine? The primary task is to rescue and extract the patient,
not tend to their medical needs. That can already be done by the rescue team.
36. How long can they be in transit? That depends on the type of transit and what type of support they
have.
37. How much movement or disturbance can the patient be expected to withstand safely? That depends
on the patient. Somebody that just came out of spinal surgery cannot withstand much shaking.
38. Do we have to limit sun exposure? The patient should not be exposed to enough sun to allow them to
severely burn.
39. Do they have to have access to patient records? Patient charts are always intact at the foot of a
patient’s bed.
40. How long can a critical care patient survive with no power to their bed? That depends on the care. A
respirator: a matter of minutes. Dialysis machine: several hours.
41. What medical equipment/supplies are required to keep a critical care patient alive? The things
attached to their bed. This could include a respirator, dialysis, IV drip, etc. It depends on the patient.
42. Can the patients be exposed to water? Water in urban floods
43. How much power does life support require? They use 120V wall power on a standard 15amp sircuit.
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44. What are the typical restraints that are on patient transport devices? Beds can have writs, ankle, chest,
and head straps attached.
45. Do the patients need to be separated from one another? No, they usually well behaved.
46. Does oxygen need to be provided to patients? Some patients do need oxygen as provided from in-wall
supply lines.
Operation
47. Within what time frame does this evacuation have to take place? Obviously rescues need to happen as
quickly as possible.
48. Where are we moving them to? To an established safe zone which could be located within the flood
zone or outside the city.
49. How far does rescue vehicle need to travel? It needs to move to and from the safe zone in order to
continuously save people.
50. What equipment will be taken onto vehicle? Just the rescue team, a 1-day sustenance package for
them, and the equipment needed for the rescue of the patient.
51. Are there hazards under the water? There could be hazards such as cars, road signs, debris, etc.
52. Would an entire hospital need to be evacuated or just the lower floors? Everybody needs to be
evacuated from the city for safety reasons until the waters recede and the buildings are inspected.
53. Can some of the solutions be applied prior to the hurricane? Yes, if it is cost, space, and logistically
efficient.
54. Are we expected to carry out the operation at night? People need to be rescued at night too.
55. Is there a boat that we can use that is separate or does that need to be included in the design? All the
boats that the team currently has are used for other rescue operations on the same site.
56. Do we need to have a high level of security on the craft? (Will people try and board the craft?) That
is generally not a concern.
57. What type of hazards will be present? The waters can have downed power lines in them and contain
sewage.
Environment
58. When did the flooding begin? Anywhere from minutes to weeks before the rescue operation begins.
59. Will there be any access to some type of fuel/charging station? It depends on how much flooding
there is and how close the safe zone can be set up.
60. Does the device need to be covered? Patients with open wounds and major illness cannot afford to be
soaked in rain water.
61. What type of terrain should the device be able to go over? Whatever it needs to in order to get the
patients to safety.
62. What structures surround the hospital? It’s urban so there may be other tall buildings, interstate
bypasses, parking garages, or it could be very open directly around the hospital.
63. Will the hospital be near common means of transportation? It might be on top of a subway but that
would definitely be flooded.
64. What region is the flood located in? Floods can happen anywhere in the U.S. and anywhere in the
world.
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