Evolution of a mass casualty drill design team: A program evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-377
Author(s):  
Mary E. Moran, PhD ◽  
Derek Ballas, DO ◽  
Nathan Blecker, MD ◽  
Ashley Sedorovich, MS ◽  
Shelly Barker, MD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Design Team ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Weekly Meeting ◽  
Response Plan ◽  
Drill Design

Introduction: The number of mass casualty incidents (MCIs) is increasing. While many healthcare systems have not experienced an MCI, the need for preparedness is ever present. The unique challenges of MCI preparedness require the use of simulation, which has been found to be an effective model for training in medical environments.Objective: To determine common discussion points when a multidisciplinary team designed and implemented in situ MCI simulation drills to enhance our emergency preparedness plan.Design: This was a retrospective qualitative evaluation of the multidisciplinary mass casualty drill design team’s weekly meeting minutes documents. These documents provided insight into the evolution of a mass casualty drill design team and the advancement of our emergency response plan. Results: Continuous discussions surrounding resource restraints helped to inform the emergenceof the three themes, which were “Staff,” “Space,” and “Stuff.” These three themes were further broken down into different subthemes, but there was a continued focus on resource scarcity.Conclusions: Our results indicate the use of an MCI drill design team and in situ simulations assisted in better understanding of how hospital departments struggled with resource scarcity and provided opportunities to strengthen the emergency preparedness response plan. Incorporating a multidisciplinary mass casualty drill design team helped to ensure different perspectives and department needs were acknowledged and addressed through the in situ simulation trainings. 

scholarly journals An armed assailant in our hospital: Are we prepared?

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 712-716
Author(s):  
Sohil Pothiawala ◽  
Rabind Charles ◽  
Wai Kein Chow ◽  
Kheng Wee Ang ◽  
Karen Hsien Ling Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Mass Casualty Incident ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
Incident Response ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Hospital Preparedness ◽  
Response Plan

ABSTRACT While armed assailant attacks are rare in the hospital setting, they pose a potential risk to healthcare staff, patients, visitors and the infrastructure. Singapore hospitals have well-developed disaster plans to respond to a mass casualty incident occurring outside the hospital. However, lack of an armed assailant incident response plan can significantly reduce the hospital’s ability to appropriately respond to such an incident. The authors describe various strategies that can be adopted in the development of an armed assailant incident response plan. Regular staff training will increase staff resilience and capability to respond to a potential threat in the future. The aim of this article is to highlight the need for the emergency preparedness units of all hospitals to work together with various stakeholders to develop an armed assailant incident response plan. This will be of great benefit for keeping healthcare facilities safe, both for staff as well as for the community. Keywords: Armed assailant, hospital, preparedness, response, strategies

Ten (+1) lessons from conducting a mass casualty in situ simulation exercise in a Canadian academic hospital setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-265
Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Tochkin, MA, CEM ◽  
Hung Tan, MSc ◽  
Caroline Nolan ◽  
Harrison Carmichael, MD ◽  
Andrew Willmore, MD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
First Century ◽  
System Level ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Hospital Administrators ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Disaster Exercise

Providing care in a twenty-first century urban emergency department (ED) and trauma center is a complex high-pressure practice environment. The pressure is intensified during patient surge scenarios commonly seen during mass casualty incidents, such that response must be practiced regularly. Beyond clinical mastery of individual patient trauma care, a coordinated system-level response is essential to optimize patient care during these relatively infrequent events. This paper highlights the need to perform exercises in hospitals while providing practical advice on how to utilize in situ simulation for mass casualty testing. Eleven lessons are presented to assist other emergency management professionals, hospital administrators, or clinical staff to achieve success with in situ simulation. Based upon our experience designing and executing an in situ mass casualty simulation within an ED, we offer lessons applicable to any type of disaster exercise. Simulation offers a powerful tool for the conduct of disaster preparedness exercises for staff across multiple hospital departments and professions.

scholarly journals IMPROVING SYSTEM READINESS, STAFF PREPAREDNESS AND PATIENT SAFETY IN A NEW SINGLE FAMILY ROOM NICU THROUGH IN SITU SIMULATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. e16-e16
Author(s):  
Ahmed Moussa ◽  
Audrey Larone-Juneau ◽  
Laura Fazilleau ◽  
Marie-Eve Rochon ◽  
Justine Giroux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Single Family ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Ensure Patient Safety ◽  
System Readiness ◽  
Dependent Samples

Abstract BACKGROUND Transitions to new healthcare environments can negatively impact patient care and threaten patient safety. Immersive in situ simulation conducted in newly constructed single family room (SFR) Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) prior to occupancy, has been shown to be effective in testing new environments and identifying latent safety threats (LSTs). These simulations overlay human factors to identify LSTs as new and existing process and systems are implemented in the new environment OBJECTIVES We aimed to demonstrate that large-scale, immersive, in situ simulation prior to the transition to a new SFR NICU improves: 1) systems readiness, 2) staff preparedness, 3) patient safety, 4) staff comfort with simulation, and 5) staff attitude towards culture change. DESIGN/METHODS Multidisciplinary teams of neonatal healthcare providers (HCP) and parents of former NICU patients participated in large-scale, immersive in-situ simulations conducted in the new NICU prior to occupancy. One eighth of the NICU was outfitted with equipment and mannequins and staff performed in their native roles. Multidisciplinary debriefings, which included parents, were conducted immediately after simulations to identify LSTs. Through an iterative process issues were resolved and additional simulations conducted. Debriefings were documented and debriefing transcripts transcribed and LSTs classified using qualitative methods. To assess systems readiness and staff preparedness for transition into the new NICU, HCPs completed surveys prior to transition, post-simulation and post-transition. Systems readiness and staff preparedness were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Average survey responses were analyzed using dependent samples t-tests and repeated measures ANOVAs. RESULTS One hundred eight HCPs and 24 parents participated in six half-day simulation sessions. A total of 75 LSTs were identified and were categorized into eight themes: 1) work organization, 2) orientation and parent wayfinding, 3) communication devices/systems, 4) nursing and resuscitation equipment, 5) ergonomics, 6) parent comfort; 7) work processes, and 8) interdepartmental interactions. Prior to the transition to the new NICU, 76% of the LSTs were resolved. Survey response rate was 31%, 16%, 7% for baseline, post-simulation and post-move surveys, respectively. System readiness at baseline was 1.3/5,. Post-simulation systems readiness was 3.5/5 (p = 0.0001) and post-transition was 3.9/5 (p = 0.02). Staff preparedness at baseline was 1.4/5. Staff preparedness post-simulation was 3.3/5 (p = 0.006) and post-transition was 3.9/5 (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION Large-scale, immersive in situ simulation is a feasible and effective methodology for identifying LSTs, improving systems readiness and staff preparedness in a new SFR NICU prior to occupancy. However, to optimize patient safety, identified LSTs must be mitigated prior to occupancy. Coordinating large-scale simulations is worth the time and cost investment necessary to optimize systems and ensure patient safety prior to transition to a new SFR NICU.

In-situ simulation

Trauma ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Schofield ◽  
Emma Welfare ◽  
Simon Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Medical Emergency ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Medical Emergency Teams ◽  
Clinical Workplace ◽  
Trauma Teams ◽  
New Guidelines

‘In-situ’ simulation or simulation ‘in the original place’ is gaining popularity as an educational modality. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of performing simulation in the clinical workplace drawing on the authors’ experience, particularly for trauma teams and medical emergency teams. ‘In-situ’ simulation is a valuable tool for testing new guidelines and assessing for latent errors in the workplace.

scholarly journals Patient safety culture improves during an in situ simulation intervention: a repeated cross-sectional intervention study at two hospital sites

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e001183
Author(s):  
Anders Schram ◽  
Charlotte Paltved ◽  
Karl Bang Christensen ◽  
Gunhild Kjaergaard-Andersen ◽  
Hanne Irene Jensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Safety Culture ◽  
Intervention Study ◽  
Patient Safety Culture ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Culture Dimensions ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Safety Attitude

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate staff’s perceptions of patient safety culture (PSC) in two Danish hospitals before and after an in situ simulation intervention.DesignA repeated cross-sectional intervention study.SettingTwo Danish hospitals. Hospital 1 performs emergency functions, whereas hospital 2 performs elective functions.ParticipantsA total of 967 healthcare professionals were invited to participate in this study. 516 were employed in hospital 1 and 451 in hospital 2. Of these, 39 were trained as simulation instructors.InterventionA 4-day simulation instructor course was applied. Emphasis was put on team training, communication and leadership. After the course, instructors performed simulation in the hospital environment. No systematic simulation was performed prior to the intervention.Main outcome measuresThe Safety Attitude Questionnaire investigating PSC was applied prior to the intervention and again 4 and 8 weeks after intervention. The proportion of participants with a positive attitude and mean scale scores were measured as main outcomes.ResultsThe response rate varied from 63.6% to 72.0% across surveys and hospitals. Baseline scores were generally lower for hospital 1. The proportion of staff with positive attitudes in hospital 1 improved by ≥5% in five of six safety culture dimensions, whereas only two dimensions improved by ≥5% in hospital 2. The mean scale scores improved significantly in five of six safety culture dimensions in hospital 1, while only one dimension improved significantly in hospital 2.ConclusionsSafety attitude outcomes indicate an improvement in PSC from before to after the in situ simulation intervention period. However, it is possible that an effect is more profound in an acute care hospital versus an elective setting.

125 INTRODUCING AN IN SITU SIMULATION PROGRAMME IN AN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Bateman ◽  
Karen Johnston ◽  
Andrew Badacsonyi ◽  
Natalie Clarke ◽  
Kathleen Conneally ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
In Situ Simulation ◽  
Airline Pilots ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Emergency Scenarios ◽  
The Impact

This North London hospital has a 14-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU). As a small District General ICU, staff exposure to emergency scenarios can be infrequent. Lack of practice can lead to a reduction in staff confidence and knowledge when these scenarios are encountered, especially during the COVID pandemic. The ICU had not previously undertaken in situ multi-disciplinary team (MDT) simulation sessions on the unit.The aim of the study was to introduce a novel programme of MDT simulation sessions in the ICU and provide feedback with the aim of increasing both staff confidence in managing emergency scenarios and staff understanding of the impact of human factors.A team of ICU Simulation Champions created emergency scenarios that could occur in the ICU. Pre-simulation and post-simulation questionnaires were produced to capture staff opinion on topics including benefits and barriers to simulation training and confidence in managing ICU emergencies. Members of the ICU MDT would be selected to participate in simulation scenarios. Afterwards, debrief sessions would be facilitated by Simulation Champions and Airline Pilots with a particular focus on competence in managing the emergency and human factors elements, such as communication and leadership. Participants would then be surveyed with the post-simulation questionnaire.Nine simulation sessions were conducted between October 2020 and June 2021. The sessions occurred within the ICU during the working day in a designated bay with the availability of all standard ICU resources and involved multiple MDT members to aid fidelity. Feedback by Simulation Champions mainly focussed on knowledge related to the ICU emergency, whilst the Airline Pilots provided expert feedback on human factors training. Fifty-five staff members completed the pre-simulation questionnaire and 37 simulation participants completed the post-simulation questionnaire. Prior to simulation participation, 28.3% of respondents agreed they felt confident managing emergency scenarios on ICU – this figure increased to 54.1% following simulation participation. 94.4% of simulation participants agreed that their knowledge of human factors had improved following the simulation and 100% of participants wanted further simulation teaching. Figure 1 shows a thematic analysis of the responses from 31 participants who were questioned about perceived benefits from simulation teaching. Following the success of the programme, the Hospital Trust will continue to support and develop inter-speciality and inter-professional training, and have funded the appointment of an ICU Simulation Fellow to continue to lead and enhance future in situ simulation teaching on the ICU.

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