Impact of a multidisciplinary disaster response exercise

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a week-long, full-scale training exercise in Kansas on multidisciplinary disaster responders from health and public safety.
Design and setting: Design was structured on phase I (1 to 3 days of classroom training) and phase II (32-hour hands-on collaborative response to a simulated disaster with multiple scenarios). Prospective survey data gathered information from participants in six exercise tracks of Command, Disaster Medicine, Emergency Operations Center, Fire Rescue, Law Enforcement, and Public Information Officer.
Subjects: Three hundred ninety-two multidisciplinary participants voluntarily enrolled through a continuing education registration mechanism, and all completed the exercise.
Interventions: Surveys were completed at preclassroom (90 percent completion rate), postclassroom (81 percent), and postdisaster simulation at 6 months after exercise (33-76 percent).
Main outcome measures: Four primary outcome measures were planned before the exercise began.
Results: Since September 11, 2001, one-third of participants attended one or two similar trainings. Fire rescue participants reported lowest levels of new course content, and disaster medicine the highest. Ninety-five percent of participants reported that personal training goals were met. There were increases in substantial confidence levels in self, agency, the south central state region, and the state to respond to disasters. The least amount of confidence increase was in the state’s ability.
Conclusions: Full-scale exercises require considerable time, resources, and funding; however, they offer attainment/enhancement of skills with immediate application in a team-oriented, practical setting, and this experience is invaluable when responding to real disasters caused by environmental forces, emerging infections, or terrorist events.