Registered nurses' experience as disaster preparedness coordinators during a major incident: A qualitative study.

AIMS: To explore registered nurses' experiences as disaster preparedness coordinators of hospital incident command groups' during a major incident. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured interview. METHODS: This was a qualitative study based on one focus group discussion and six individual follow-up interviews. Participants were registered nurses in their capacity as disaster preparedness coordinators with experience from Major Incident simulations and a real-life Major Incident. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. The COREQ checklist was used for reporting the findings. RESULTS: The analysis of data generated the main category: Expectations, previous experience and uncertainty affect hospital incident command group response during a Major Incident and three categories, (I) Gaining situational awareness (containing two subcategories), (II) Transitioning to management (containing three subcategories) and (III) Actions taken during uncertainty (containing two subcategories).

Emergency department registered nurses overestimate their disaster competency: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Major incidents continue to pose a threat to health care systems by overwhelming them with a sudden surge of patients. A major factor impacting a hospital's surge capacity is the skills, abilities, and knowledge of emergency department (ED) registered nurses (RN). The level of disaster nursing competency they possess affects patient safety and outcome. ED RNs' ability to accurately assess their competency and knowledge is imperative for mitigating the effect of major incidents. ED RN's perception of overall disaster preparedness has not been thoroughly addressed. The aim of this study was to assess emergency department registered nurses' self-perceived disaster preparedness. METHOD: The study was a cross-sectional study per the STROBE checklist. A self-assessment questionnaire based on the results of a study identifying specific disaster nursing competencies for ED RNs was distributed to all ED RNs at six participating hospitals between January 10th to February 19th of 2019. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to assess competency. RESULTS: ED RNs' disaster preparedness according to the Total Disaster Competency mean was low. Furthermore, the results indicate that ED RNs' significantly overestimate their disaster nursing competency when compared to the Total Disaster Competency mean. Additionally, this study identified factors such as experience and education were positively associated with disaster preparedness and self-assessment ability. CONCLUSION: ED RNs' overestimate their disaster preparedness. However, ED RNs with experience and education may be better prepared. ED RNs with formal disaster education appeared to have better insight concerning their preparedness. Clinical experience, advanced levels of education, and training were positively associated with preparedness. Overestimating disaster competencies may negatively impact patient outcomes during a major incident.

Hospital incident command groups' performance during major incident simulations: a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital incident command groups' (HICG) performance may have a profound impact on hospital response to major incidents. Previous research has assessed hospital incident command group capacity as opposed to performance and factors associated to performance. The objective was to assess associations between decision-making and staff procedure skills of the hospital incident command group. METHODS: This was a prospective observational study using performance indicators to assess hospital incident command groups' decision-making and performance. A total of six hospitals in Stockholm, Sweden, with their respective HICGs participated. Associations between decision-making skills and staff procedure skills during major incident simulations were assessed using measurable performance indicators. RESULTS: Decision-making skills are correlated to staff procedure skills and overall HICG performance. Proactive decision-making skills had significantly lower means than reactive decision-making skills and are significantly correlated to staff procedure skills. CONCLUSION: There is a significant correlation between decision-making skills and staff procedural skills. Hospital incident command groups' proactive decision-making abilities tended to be less developed than reactive decision-making abilities. These proactive decision-making skills may be a predictive factor for overall hospital incident command group performance. A lack of proactive decision-making ability may hamper efforts to mitigate the effects of a major incident.

Attitudes Towards and Experience of the Use of Triage Tags in Major Incidents: A Mixed Method Study.

UNLABELLED: Introduction Disaster triage is the allocation of limited medical resources in order to optimize patient outcome. There are several studies showing the poor use of triage tagging, but there are few studies that have investigated the reasons behind this. The aim of this study was to explore ambulance personnel attitude towards, and experiences of, practicing triage tagging during day-to-day management of trauma patients, as well as in major incidents (MIs). METHODS: A mixed method design was used. The first part of the study was in the form of a web-survey of attitudes answered by ambulance personnel. The question explored was: Is it likely that systems that are not used in everyday practice will be used during MIs? Two identical web-based surveys were conducted, before and after implementing a new strategy for triage tagging. This strategy consisted of a time-limited triage routine where ambulance services assigned triage category and applied triage tags in day-to-day trauma incidents in order to improve field triage. The second part comprised three focus group interviews (FGIs) in order to provide a deeper insight into the attitudes towards, and experience of, the use of triage tags. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The overall finding was the need for daily routine when failure in practice. Analysis of the web-survey revealed three changes: ambulance personnel were more prone to use tags in minor accidents, the sort scoring system was considered to be more valuable, but it also was more time consuming after the intervention. In the analysis of FGIs, four categories emerged that describe the construction of the overall category: perceived usability, daily routine, documentation, and need for organizational strategies. CONCLUSION: Triage is part of the foundation of ambulance skills, but even so, ambulance personnel seldom use this in routine practice. They fully understand the benefit of accurate triage decisions, and also that the use of a triage algorithm and color coded tags is intended to make it easier and more secure to perform triage. However, despite the knowledge and understanding of these benefits, sparse incidents and infrequent exercises lead to ambulance personnel's uncertainty concerning the use of triage tagging during a MI and will therefore, most likely, avoid using them. Rådestad M , Lennquist Montán K , Rüter A , Castrén M , Svensson L , Gryth D , Fossum B . Attitudes towards and experience of the use of triage tags in major incidents: a mixed method study. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(4):376-385.

Essential key indicators for disaster medical response suggested to be included in a national uniform protocol for documentation of major incidents: a Delphi study.

BACKGROUND: Registration of data from a major incident or disaster serves several purposes such as to record data for evaluation of response as well as for research. Data needed can often be retrieved after an incident while other must be recorded during the incident. There is a need for a consensus on what is essential to record from a disaster response. The aim of this study was to identify key indicators essential for initial disaster medical response registration. By this is meant nationally accepted processes involved, from the time of the emergency call to the emergency medical communication centre until medical care is provided at the emergency department. METHODS: A three round Delphi study was conducted. Thirty experts with a broad knowledge in disaster and emergency response and medical management were invited. In this study we estimated 30 experts to be approximately one third of the number in Sweden eligible for recruitment. Process, structure and outcome indicators for the initial disaster medical response were identified. These were based on previous research and expressed as statements and were grouped into eight categories, and presented to the panel of experts. The experts were instructed to score each statement, using a five point Likert scale, and were also invited to include additional statements. Statements reaching a predefined consensus level of 80% were considered as essential to register. RESULTS: In total 97 statements were generated, 77 statements reached consensus. The 77 statements covered parts of all relevant aspects involved in the initial disaster medical response. The 20 indicators that did not reach consensus mostly concerned patient related times in hospital, types of support systems and security for health care staff. CONCLUSIONS: The Delphi technique can be used for reaching consensus of data, comprising process, structure and outcome indicators, identified as essential for recording from major incidents and disasters.

Utstein-style template for uniform data reporting of acute medical response in disasters.

BACKGROUND: In 2003, the Task Force on Quality Control of Disaster Management (WADEM) published guidelines for evaluation and research on health disaster management and recommended the development of a uniform data reporting tool. Standardized and complete reporting of data related to disaster medical response activities will facilitate the interpretation of results, comparisons between medical response systems and quality improvement in the management of disaster victims. METHODS: Over a two-year period, a group of 16 experts in the fields of research, education, ethics and operational aspects of disaster medical management from 8 countries carried out a consensus process based on a modified Delphi method and Utstein-style technique. RESULTS: The EMDM Academy Consensus Group produced an Utstein-style template for uniform data reporting of acute disaster medical response, including 15 data elements with indicators, that can be used for both research and quality improvement. CONCLUSION: It is anticipated that the Utstein-style template will enable better and more accurate completion of reports on disaster medical response and contribute to further scientific evidence and knowledge related to disaster medical management in order to optimize medical response system interventions and to improve outcomes of disaster victims.

Combining performance and outcome indicators can be used in a standardized way: a pilot study of two multidisciplinary, full-scale major aircraft exercises.

BACKGROUND: Disaster medicine is a fairly young scientific discipline and there is a need for the development of new methods for evaluation and research. This includes full-scale disaster exercisers. A standardized concept on how to evaluate these exercises, could lead to easier identification of pitfalls caused by system-errors in the organization. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using a combination of performance and outcome indicators so that results can be compared in standardized full-scale exercises. METHODS: Two multidisciplinary, full-scale exercises were studied in 2008 and 2010. The panorama had the same setup. Sets of performance indicators combined with indicators for unfavorable patient outcome were recorded in predesigned templates. Evaluators, all trained in a standardized way at a national disaster medicine centre, scored the results on predetermined locations; at the scene, at hospital and at the regional command and control. RESULTS: All data regarding the performance indicators of the participants during the exercises were obtained as well as all data regarding indicators for patient outcome. Both exercises could therefore be compared regarding performance (processes) as well as outcome indicators. The data from the performance indicators during the exercises showed higher scores for the prehospital command in the second exercise 15 points and 3 points respectively. Results from the outcome indicators, patient survival and patient complications, demonstrated a higher number of preventable deaths and a lower number of preventable complications in the exercise 2010. In the exercise 2008 the number of preventable deaths was lower and the number of preventable complications was higher. CONCLUSIONS: Standardized multidisciplinary, full-scale exercises in different settings can be conducted and evaluated with performance indicators combined with outcome indicators enabling results from exercises to be compared. If exercises are performed in a standardized way, results may serve as a basis for lessons learned. Future use of the same concept using the combination of performance indicators and patient outcome indicators may demonstrate new and important evidence that could lead to new and better knowledge that also may be applied during real incidents.

Increased situation awareness in major incidents-radio frequency identification (RFID) technique: a promising tool.

INTRODUCTION: In mass-casualty situations, communications and information management to improve situational awareness is a major challenge for responders. In this study, the feasibility of a prototype system that utilizes commercially available, low-cost components, including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and mobile phone technology, was tested in two simulated mass-casualty incidents. METHODS: The feasibility and the direct benefits of the system were evaluated in two simulated mass-casualty situations: one in Finland involving a passenger ship accident resulting in multiple drowning/hypothermia patients, and another at a major airport in Sweden using an aircraft crash scenario. Both simulations involved multiple agencies and functioned as test settings for comparing the disaster management's situational awareness with and without using the RFID-based system. Triage documentation was done using both an RFID-based system, which automatically sent the data to the Medical Command, and a traditional method using paper triage tags. The situational awareness was measured by comparing the availability of up-to date information at different points in the care chain using both systems. RESULTS: Information regarding the numbers and status or triage classification of the casualties was available approximately one hour earlier using the RFID system compared to the data obtained using the traditional method. CONCLUSIONS: The tested prototype system was quick, stable, and easy to use, and proved to work seamlessly even in harsh field conditions. It surpassed the paper-based system in all respects except simplicity of use. It also improved the general view of the mass-casualty situations, and enhanced medical emergency readiness in a multi-organizational medical setting. The tested technology is feasible in a mass-casualty incident; further development and testing should take place.

Evaluation of medical command and control using performance indicators in a full-scale, major aircraft accident exercise.

INTRODUCTION: Large, functional, disaster exercises are expensive to plan and execute, and often are difficult to evaluate objectively. Command and control in disaster medicine organizations can benefit from objective results from disaster exercises to identify areas that must be improved. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this pilot study was to examine if it is possible to use performance indicators for documentation and evaluation of medical command and control in a full-scale major incident exercise at two levels: (1) local level (scene of the incident and hospital); and (2) strategic level of command and control. Staff procedure skills also were evaluated. METHODS: Trained observers were placed in each of the three command and control locations. These observers recorded and scored the performance of command and control using templates of performance indicators. The observers scored the level of performance by awarding 2, 1, or 0 points according to the template and evaluated content and timing of decisions. Results from 11 performance indicators were recorded at each template and scores greater than 11 were considered as acceptable. RESULTS: Prehospital command and control had the lowest score. This also was expressed by problems at the scene of the incident. The scores in management and staff skills were at the strategic level 15 and 17, respectively; and at the hospital level, 17 and 21, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to use performance indicators in a full-scale, major incident exercise for evaluation of medical command and control. The results could be used to compare similar exercises and evaluate real incidents in the future.

Quality control in disaster medicine training--initial regional medical command and control as an example.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to show the possibility to identify what decisions in the initial regional medical command and control (IRMCC) that have to be improved. DESIGN: This was a prospective, observational study conducted during nine similar educational programs for regional and hospital medical command and control in major incidents and disasters. Eighteen management groups were evaluated during 18 standardized simulation exercises. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: More detailed and quantitative evaluation methods for systematic evaluation within disaster medicine have been asked for. The hypothesis was that measurable performance indicators can create comparable results and identify weak and strong areas of performance in disaster management education and training. METHODS: Evaluation of each exercise was made with a set of 11 measurable performance indicators for IRMCC. The results of each indicator were scored 0, 1, or 2 according to the performance of each management group. RESULTS: The average of the total score for IRMCC was 14.05 of 22. The two best scored performance indicators, No 1 "declaring major incident" and No 2 "deciding on level of preparedness for staff" differed significantly from the two lowest scoring performance indicators, No 7 "first information to media" and No 8 "formulate general guidelines for response." CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that decisions such as "formulating guidelines for response and "first information to media" were areas in initial medical command and control that need to be improved. This method can serve as a quality control tool in disaster management education programs.

Can performance indicators be used for pedagogic purposes in disaster medicine training?

BACKGROUND: Although disaster simulation trainings were widely used to test hospital disaster plans and train medical staff, the teaching performance of the instructors in disaster medicine training has never been evaluated. The aim of this study was to determine whether the performance indicators for measuring educational skill in disaster medicine training could indicate issues that needed improvement. METHODS: The educational skills of 15 groups attending disaster medicine instructor courses were evaluated using 13 measurable performance indicators. The results of each indicator were scored at 0, 1 or 2 according to the teaching performance. RESULTS: The total summed scores ranged from 17 to 26 with a mean of 22.67. Three indicators: 'Design', 'Goal' and 'Target group' received the maximum scores. Indicators concerning running exercises had significantly lower scores as compared to others. CONCLUSION: Performance indicators could point out the weakness area of instructors' educational skills. Performance indicators can be used effectively for pedagogic purposes.

Improved staff procedure skills lead to improved managment skills: an observational study in an educational setting.

INTRODUCTION: Good staff procedure skills in a management group during incidents and disasters are believed to be a prerequisite for good management of the situation. However, this has not been demonstrated scientifically. Templates for evaluation results from performance indicators during simulation exercises have previously been tested. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the possibility that these indicators can be used as a tool for studying the relationship between good management skills and good staff procedure skills. HYPOTHESIS: Good and structured work (staff procedure skills) in a hospital management group during simulation exercises in disaster medicine is related to good and timely decisions (good management skills). METHODS: Results from 29 consecutive simulation exercises in which staff procedure skills and management skills were evaluated using quantitative measurements were included. The statistical analysis method used was simple linear regression with staff procedure skills as the response variable and management skills as the predictor variable. RESULTS: An overall significant relationship was identified between staff procedure skills and management skills (p(2)0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that there is a relationship between staff procedure skills and management skills in the educational setting used. Future studies are needed to demonstrate if this also can be observed during actual incidents.

Management of resources at major incidents and disasters in relation to patient outcome: a pilot study of an educational model.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Organizations involved in disaster response often have a defined operative level of management (command and control) that can take the overall decisions regarding the mobilization and distribution of resources and distribution of casualties. This level of management can be referred to as strategic management. The aim of this pilot study was to show the possibility, in simulation exercises, to relate decisions made regarding resources to patient outcome. METHODS: The simulation system used measures to determine if lifesaving interventions are performed in time or not in relation to patient outcome. Evaluation was made with sets of performance indicators as templates and all management groups were evaluated not only as to how the decisions were made (management skills), but also how staff work was performed (staff procedure skills). RESULTS: Owing to inadequate response and insufficient distribution of patients to hospitals, 11 'patients' died in the simulated incident, a fire at a football stand with subsequent collapse. The strategic level of management received 16 points out of a possible 22 according to a predesigned template of performance indicators. CONCLUSION: The pilot study demonstrated the possibility to, in simulation exercises, relate decisions made regarding resources to patient outcome. This training technique could possibly lead to increased knowledge in what decisions are crucial to make in an early phase to minimize mortality and morbidity.

Staff procedure skills in management groups during exercises in disaster medicine.

INTRODUCTION: In stressful situations such as the management of major incidents and disasters, the ability to work in a structured way is important. Medical management groups initially are formed by personnel from different operations that are on-call when the incident or disaster occurs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if performance indicators for staff procedure skills in medical management groups during simulations could be used as a quality control tool for finding areas that require improvement. METHODS: A total of 44 management groups were evaluated using performance indicators in which results could be expressed numerically during simulations. RESULTS: The lowest scores were given to documentation and to the introduction of new staff members. The highest score was given the utilization of technical equipment. CONCLUSIONS: Staff procedure skills can be measured during simulations exercises. A logging system may lead to enhancing areas requiring improvement.

KAMEDO Report 90: terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spain, 2004.

This is a descriptive study of the medical responses to the bombings by terrorists in Madrid on 11 March 2004. The nature of the event, the human damage, and the responses are described. It describes the: (1) nature and operations associated with the alarm; (2) assignment of responding units and personnel; (3) establishment and operations of casualty collection points; (4) medical transport and distribution of injured victims; (5) prioritization and command; (6) hospital care; (7) psychosocial care; (8) identification of the dead; and (9) police investigation and actions. Each of these descriptions is discussed in terms of what currently is known and the implications for future planning, preparedness, and response.

Performance indicators as quality control for testing and evaluating hospital management groups: a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: An important issue in disaster medicine is the establishment of standards that can be used as a template for evaluation. With the establishment of standards, the ability to compare results will improve, both within and between different organizations involved in disaster management. OBJECTIVE: Performance indicators were developed for testing in simulations exercises with the purpose of evaluating the skills of hospital management groups. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how these indicators can be used to create numerically expressed results that can be compared. METHODS: Three different management groups were tested in standardized simulation exercises. The testing took place according to the organization's own disaster plan and within their own facilities. Trained observers used a pre-designed protocol of performance indicators as a template for the evaluation. RESULTS: The management group that scored lowest in management skills also scored lowest in staff skills. CONCLUSION: The use of performance indicators for evaluating the management skills of hospital groups can provide comparable results in testing situations and could provide a new tool for quality improvement of evaluations of real incidents and disasters.

Telomerase activity in surgical specimens and fine-needle aspiration biopsies from hyperplastic and neoplastic human thyroid tissues.

BACKGROUND: Telomerase activity (TA) indicates malignancy, but activated lymphocytes also express TA. Correlation between TA in thyroid tissues and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples and knowledge about TA in adjacent tissue are of importance. METHODS: The telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay followed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detection was performed on 78 thyroid cases including 53 suspected malignancies, preoperative and perioperative FNA specimens, and adjacent tissue. RESULTS: Benign lesions in cancer-suspected cases were TA negative. Eight of 13 papillary (62%) and 4 of 5 follicular (80%) tumors were TA positive (TA+). Lower TA was observed in conventional papillary cancer than in follicular, tall cell variant of papillary and anaplastic cancers. Adjacent tissues with lymphocyte infiltration were TA+ in 9 of 17 cases (53%). Nine of 65 adjacent tissues (14%) were TA+. Three of 6 preoperative and 9 of 11 perioperative FNA samples from malignant tumors corresponded to the tissue TA. CONCLUSIONS; High TA may reflect more severe thyroid cancer. Telomerase activity in FNA biopsies does not add reliable diagnostic information, and presence of lymphocytes can give false-positive results.