Assessment of hospital disaster plans for conventional mass casualty incidents following terrorist explosions using a live exercise based upon the real data of actual patients

Abstract

Previous knowledge of patient diagnoses and resource needs allow the identification and quantification of deficiencies and problems identified in clinical decision making, resource utilisation and incident management.

Exercising for mass casualty preparedness

“…There are courses that look to deliver learning and exercises with the aim of 'teaching' preparedness. 12,19 Although these may be valuable in gaining knowledge and experience in emergency preparedness and its delivery, courses are likely to involve participants from different organisations and use generic exercise scenarios. Exercising specifically designed for an individual healthcare system, and involving its own workforce, is likely to be of greater benefit.…”

Staff Perspectives of Mass Casualty Incident Preparedness

“…Simulation training drills should be included when creating a response plan for MCIs, as this training not only provides an opportunity for multidisciplinary feedback but allows for staff members to test the emergency response plan [13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. There are different types of simulation, which include skill development in a controlled environment or practice in the clinical space, called in situ simulations.…”

“…Simulation has been found to be an effective training model to increase MCI preparedness [13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

“…Simulation training can impact MCI preparedness by improving clinical decision making, [ 24 ] competency [ 28 ], protocols [ 29 ], and preparation and confidence [ 27 ]. Furthermore, in situ simulation can specifically impact MCI-related perceptions of preparedness [ 13 , 21 ], ED triage accuracy [ 17 - 18 , 22 ], reduced triage time [ 18 ], and accuracy regarding treatment decisions [ 19 ]. While testing an emergency response plan in situ sounds challenging, it has demonstrated benefits in knowledge retention compared to didactic learning models [ 26 ].…”

Mass casualty drill with paper blood products

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In preparation for an emergency medical system‐wide mass casualty drill with the scenario of an explosion at the Seattle Ferry Terminal and 40 injured, the Transfusion Service at Harborview Medical Center recreated its blood component inventory with mock paper units to provide a training scenario for laboratory and clinical workers involved . In Fig.…”