Mass casualty incident tabletop exercise

30 Sep 2018

Exercise shows areas of strength and for improvement

By: Wayne McFarlin, emergency preparedness administrator

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Drs. Christine Clarke and Matthew Boles participated in a hospital command tabletop exercise Aug. 15. The scenario was a mass casualty incident where the hospital received 50 casualties from a mass shooting at the Oregon State Fair. This exercise applied elements from department MCI plans, which were updated over the last year and are detailed here.

This exercise was practice for a full-scale exercise with role-playing casualties planned for November (formerly planned for Sept. 13). A specific date for the full-scale exercise is being determined with Salem fire and police departments.

Highlights of the report:

Increased coordination among departments by using department plans for predictable MCI needs enables hospital command to focus on other crisis management needs unique to the event. An example of this is the emergency department decompression plan that relies on the post-anesthesia care unit receiving some ED patients.
A follow-up action to the exercise will identify leadership roles within the operations, logistics and planning sections ahead of time, rather than try to define those roles in the midst of crisis response.

For additional details read the after action report.