Exercises
-
March 13, 2012 Healthcare Emergency Management
-
February 9, 2012 Standards and Regulations
-
February 8, 2012 ICS/HICS
-
December 6, 2011 Exercises
-
November 10, 2011 HVA
Exercises are a key component of your emergency management program. They will help you identify gaps in planning, reduce response times, and increase the confidence of your staff during times of crisis.
I Need
Exercise Assistance
A major element to any exercise is having personnel to act as exercise staff (evaluators, controllers, players, etc.). We realize that one of our great strengths as the RHPC is the ability to leverage members knowledge and experience to improve all facets of emergency preparedness. If you need assistance in the development or running of your exercise, you can submit a request for assistance. This request will go to RHPC members who have volunteered to help and they will get back to you directly.
I need assistance
If you are willing to assist, please send us an email and we will add you to the list.
Standards and Exercises
The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission lists several standards for exercises and their implementation
The hospital evaluates the effectiveness of its Emergency Operations Plan (EM.03.01.03)
- the hospital activates its Emergency Operations Plan twice (2x) a year - activation can be an exercise or real emergency
- tabletops cannot be used as an activation
- one activation must simulate or be a response to an influx of patients
- one activation must include an escalating event in which the local community is unable to support the hospital
- one activation must include participation in a community-wide exercise
- individuals must be designated to monitor the performance of the exercise and document opportunities for improvement
- evaluation of all exercises - including deficiencies and opportunities for improvement must be documented
- the hospital Emergency Operations Plan is modified based upon lessons learned from exercises and actual emergencies
- subsequent exercises will reflect modifications described in the modified Emergency Operations Plan
The hospital uses its hazard vulnerability analysis as a basis for defining the preparedness activities that will organize and mobilize essential resources (EM.01.01.01, EP 6)
Det Norske Veritas
Similar to the Joint Commission, Det Norske Veritas requires hospitals to test their system "no less frequently than twice per year" (PE.6, SR.4)
- hospitals must conduct an organization-wide test of the triage and disposition of patients
- at least every other exercises must be conducted with the community to evaluate surge capacity
- the organizations must develop an After Action report identifying opportunities for improvement and revise their plan according to the identified opportunities
Exercise Resources
Templates from the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
Exercise Plan (Explan)- typically used for operations-based exercises, provides a synopsis of the exercise and is published and distributed to players and observers prior to the start of the exercise.
Situation Manual (Sitman)- handbook for discussion-based exercises, particularly TTXs; provides background information on exercise scope, schedule, and objectives.
Controller/Evaluator Handbook- supplements the ExPlan for operations-based exercises, containing more detailed information about the exercise scenario and describing exercise controllers' and evaluators' roles and responsibilities
Types of Exercises
A strong exercise program is built on the building block approach - incorporating lessons learned and increasing the complexity of your exercises.
Exercises can be broken into two classes - Discussion based and Operations based. Discussion based exercises allow the participants to become familiar with or develop new plans, policies, or procedures.
Operations based exercises will allow participants to simulate the response to an incident or event and validate current plans or procedures.
Discussion Based
Seminars/Orientations - A seminar is an informal discussion, designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures
Workshops - workshops focus on building specific products (plans, objectives, etc)
Tabletop (TTX)- the tabletop exercise introduces a scenario for a discussion in an informal setting. The focus of the tabletop is allowing the particiapnts to slow down, analyze, and discuss in-depth, as opposed to rapid or spontaneous decsion making
Games- games allow for two opposing teams using a scenario, rules, and data to explore responses and consequences. Decisions and narratives are based on how each team responds to the other.
Operations Based
Drill - a drill tests a single operation or function within one entity (testing your internal mass notification system)
Functional- a functional exercise simulates the activation and operation of Emergency Operations Centers, command and control centers, and other coordinating entities. Functional exercises allow participants to respond in a simulated environment without the deployment of actual resources.
Full-scale- full scale exercises are complex, real time exercises that activate both command and control centers and deployed resources