Planning Committee You should have assembled a core exercise planning committee prior to undertaking the task of conducting an electronic exercise in your community. If possible, members of the planning committee who are going to participate in the exercise should not be designated as exercise controllers, exercise evaluators, or trusted agents because they have complete knowledge of the design of the exercise. Ensure everyone on the planning team knows who is on the planning committee along with their organization, contact information, and the sector they represent. Exercise Controllers Exercise controllers plan and manage the conduct of the exercise. Exercise controllers do not participate in the exercise unless absolutely necessary. Exercise controllers have distinct, responsibilities in an electronic exercise, such as Leading the development of exercise materials, such as the exercise scenario, Master Scenario Events List (MSEL), scenario injects, and the Situation Manual (SitMan). These materials are explained in detail in Section 3 – Designing an Electronic Exercise. Trusted agents will assist the exercise controllers with this task. Managing the conduct of the exercise (see Section 5 – Conducting an Electronic Exercise), which includes the following subtasks: E-mailing scenario updates, scenario injects, and situation reports (SITREP) to exercise participants as scheduled in the exercise MSEL. Receiving e-mail responses from sector representatives participating in the exercise and using these responses to compile a daily SITREP. Setting up and facilitating conference calls with exercise participants, as needed. Making adjustments to the exercise MSEL, scenario, and injects, as needed. Making the exercise suitable to conduct using an electronic format. This topic is covered in Section 4 – Making It an Electronic Exercise. Assisting with the evaluation of the exercise. This topic is covered in Section 5 – Evaluating an Electronic Exercise. Taking the lead in conducting post-exercise briefings and meetings. intensive
Community Recovery Medical Surge Emergency Operations Coordination Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions Emergency Public Information and Warning Public Health Laboratory Testing Fatality Management Services Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation Information Sharing Responder Safety and Health Mass Care Volunteer Management Medical Countermeasure Dispensing This cell is intentionally blank Establish Exercise Objectives Capability-Based Objectives Without well written and clearly defined objectives, the exercise participants, to include the players, controllers and evaluators, have no way to determine if a capability has been successfully demonstrated. Clearly defined objectives provide the emergency preparedness and response community the means to structure their own efforts towards the accomplishment of the objective and acceptable achievement of the desired capabilities. Texas Department of State Health Services Writing Capability-Based Exercise Objectives Your next step is to establish your exercise objectives. FEMA notes that "an objective is a description of the performance you expect from participants to demonstrate competence. Objectives are specific and performance based. A small exercise can have as few as two or three objectives; a large, national exercise can have as many as 100. For an average exercise, 10 or fewer objectives are recommended." As stated previously, HSEEP suggests that the exercise planning team should align each exercise objective to one or more core capabilities. You identified the core capabilities to test in the checklist in the previous section. Now you have to write exercise objectives that align with them. First, you need to look at the SMART approach to writing exercise objectives. SMART is an acronym that stands for the key aspects of a good objective. These aspects are explained in more detail below. Simple/Specific A good objective is simple and clearly phrased. It is brief and easy to understand. A good objective also is detailed and well defined so you know where you are going and what to expect when you get there.
Document Non-aligning Sector Responses One purpose of exercises, regardless of the format, is to compare responses to a given situation to responses to the same situation prescribed in formal, written plans. Therefore, exercise controllers should document any responses during the course of exercises that do not align with the community's written pandemic influenza plan. This documentation will help exercise evaluators with their evaluation of the exercise. Conduct a Post-exercise Hot Wash A hot wash is the "after-action" discussions and evaluations of an agency's (or multiple agencies') performance following an exercise, training session, or major event. It is a term picked up in recent years by the emergency preparedness community (likely as a result of Homeland Security and other agencies' involvement in disaster planning). A hot wash serves as a form of briefing for all involved to analyze what worked well, what needs improvement, what person or agency is responsible for said improvements, and the assignments and timelines for the noted corrective and proactive improvements to be put in place. Exercise controllers should conduct an exercise hot wash with exercise players. A face-to-face meeting is preferred because it is a more effective way to capture post-exercise information. This meeting serves as a transition to the evaluation phase as described in the text box on the next page. Listed below are suggested agenda items for the post-exercise hot wash: List three strengths of the overall community response to the scenario presented during the exercise. List three areas for improvement in the overall community response to the scenario presented during the exercise. List three strengths of the e-mail format for the exercise. List three areas for improvement in the e-mail format of the exercise. Provide other remarks or comments about the exercise.
INJECT CC-2 Inject Information Secondary Players Emergency medical Services (EMS), Mental Health, Faith-Based Organizations, & Other Call Centers (e.g., 2-1-1 and nurse triage lines). Event Synopsis Increase in non-emergency calls. Message Description For 3 days your center has received multiple calls from a man stating that he is dying from the flu. EMS has transported him on 3 occasions. The hospital staff has determined he is not ill and not in need of treatment and has released him. He has called again, saying that he is "really dying this time." Special Sector Discussion Question How do you handle frequent callers such as this person, especially in this time when the call volume is very high? FOR EVALUATOR USE ONLY Evaluation Criteria Expected Player Action Make a determination on whether the protocol followed requires the operator to pass the call on to EMS. Competency to be Demonstrated Flexible protocols to use that will prioritize limited assets during a severe pandemic. Capabilities Measured HPP Capability 4 – Medical Surge PHEP Capability 10 – Medical Surge Notes: ________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
F – This inject response report was compiled from the responses the Public Health sector provided as a response to the August 17 scenario inject shown in Appendix E on pages 159 and 160. ***This is an Exercise*** Public Health Responses to Day 3 Scenario Inject Sector Inject You arrive at work to find a homeless family (two adults and two children) at your front door. One adult and one child are obviously suffering from ILI symptoms and in need of emergency care. The sister of a county resident called to report her brother is in the hospital and she is caring for his small chicken farm. She has noticed that a lot of the chickens are dying but she does not know why. What issues do these situations pose to your organization's/agency's response? Homeless family: Immediate need would be to isolate the sick individuals and quarantine the exposed family members. The family will be provided masks, and isolated while EMS is called. Public Health (PH) will provide messages to the media informing ill individuals to follow the community plan. Do not present at PH. PH does not provide care. Absenteeism: PH will activate the Medical Reserve Corps, call in standby personnel, and call the Red Cross to help staff phones and assist with operations. Additional staff will be trained in Vital Records and trained as Deputy Registrars. How would your organization/agency respond to these situations? Homeless family: PH will contact 9-1-1 to transport sick individuals to emergency department. PH will contact a taxi to transport the well adult and child to follow the sick individuals to the hospital. PH will provide PPE for cab driver. PH will contact the accepting hospital's social worker to start arranging for shelter for the well family members. A local ministry will be contacted because they have individual rooms.
Strengths Core Capability Element [list observed strength] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise [list observed strength] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise [list observed strength] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise I observed the following areas for improvement during this exercise (please select the corresponding capability and applicable element related to the area for improvement):
Areas for Improvement Core Capability Element [list area for improvement] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise [list area for improvement] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise [list area for improvement] [list core capability for this exercise] Planning Organization Equipment Training Exercise