|
White Paper New Joint Commission Standards for 2008 and beyond |
 |
|
DeskTop Exercises bring efficiency and effectiveness to preparedness efforts |
|
|
Economic Implications of a Pandemic Influenza Event |
|
Simulated Patient (SimPat) Evacuation Exercises
In keeping with the HSEEP exercise guidance, SES now can provide Simulated Patient Evacuation Exercises. The service begins with a discussion of processes and procedures for evacuating affected hospital, the logistics of transporting patients to receiving facilities and how the loop is closed to ensure that information is communicated effectively and that patients are transported efficiently and effectively.
Participants
For each patient evacuation exercise one hospital will be identified as the affected hospital. This facility would need to activate their incident command system, identify available appropriate beds in the region and coordinate the transfer to the receiving hospitals. A controller and evaluator would be stationed at the transferring hospital and monitor the movement of simulated patients through the facility as well as the operations of the facility's incident command center. The actual transfer of simulated patients could stop at the transferring facilities door when the patient enters a simulated transportation vehicle or it can be continued as an influx exercise at the receiving hospital(s).
Evaluation:
At the completion of the exercise, it is recommended that the organization conduct a 30 minute debriefing at the conclusion of the exercise and capture feedback from participants. This session can be facilitated by an onsite external evaluator. The evaluation process includes a self critiqued (internal) evaluation with the identification of lessons learned and a list of action items. We ask participants to submit this to SES for review and integration into the overall evaluation. In addition, an onsite external evaluator assesses the exercise based upon a series of scored criteria, observations and patient tracer assessments. Information provided from the debriefing, the self assessment and the external evaluation is integrated into a report provided to the facility within 30 days of the exercise. At 6-month and 1 year intervals, a survey is sent to the participating facility asking for a status report on their action items. This helps to cue the organization to reflect upon their lessons learned and their progress in addressing action items. The response also serves as additional documentation for their accreditation process.
This process allows for a very cost effective use of resources and can be tailored to meet assessment objectives. In addition, properly conducted simulated patient exercises may be counted for compliance with the functional component of exercises needed for hospital accreditation.
Documentation:
Materials from the exercise such as simulated patient charts, communications, incident action plans and debriefing notes, lessons learned and action items can be put together in a binder by SES for the organization. In addition, internal and external evaluation materials can be included. This document can serve for future reference and as supporting documentation for accreditation.
In keeping with the HSEEP exercise guidance, SES now can provide Simulated Patient Evacuation Exercises. The service begins with a discussion of processes and procedures for evacuating affected hospital, the logistics of transporting patients to receiving facilities and how the loop is closed to ensure that information is communicated effectively and that patients are transported efficiently and effectively.
Participants
For each patient evacuation exercise one hospital will be identified as the affected hospital. This facility would need to activate their incident command system, identify available appropriate beds in the region and coordinate the transfer to the receiving hospitals. A controller and evaluator would be stationed at the transferring hospital and monitor the movement of simulated patients through the facility as well as the operations of the facility's incident command center. The actual transfer of simulated patients could stop at the transferring facilities door when the patient enters a simulated transportation vehicle or it can be continued as an influx exercise at the receiving hospital(s).
Evaluation:
At the completion of the exercise, it is recommended that the organization conduct a 30 minute debriefing at the conclusion of the exercise and capture feedback from participants. This session can be facilitated by an onsite external evaluator. The evaluation process includes a self critiqued (internal) evaluation with the identification of lessons learned and a list of action items. We ask participants to submit this to SES for review and integration into the overall evaluation. In addition, an onsite external evaluator assesses the exercise based upon a series of scored criteria, observations and patient tracer assessments. Information provided from the debriefing, the self assessment and the external evaluation is integrated into a report provided to the facility within 30 days of the exercise. At 6-month and 1 year intervals, a survey is sent to the participating facility asking for a status report on their action items. This helps to cue the organization to reflect upon their lessons learned and their progress in addressing action items. The response also serves as additional documentation for their accreditation process.
This process allows for a very cost effective use of resources and can be tailored to meet assessment objectives. In addition, properly conducted simulated patient exercises may be counted for compliance with the functional component of exercises needed for hospital accreditation.
Documentation:
Materials from the exercise such as simulated patient charts, communications, incident action plans and debriefing notes, lessons learned and action items can be put together in a binder by SES for the organization. In addition, internal and external evaluation materials can be included. This document can serve for future reference and as supporting documentation for accreditation.
