Research

Proficiency in conducting exercises and drills for man-made and natural disasters


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IHMD has planned and implemented anti-terrorism, natural disaster, and mass casualty drills and exercises in dozens of states. The Consequence Management training exercise has been the largest anti-terrorism disaster exercise in the Southeastern U.S., which was planned and executed by IHMD personnel in 2002 and 2003. In the ADLS hands-on two-day training course for emergency response, a mass-casualty drill hones the decision-making capabilities of response personnel. This AMA-certified training has been conducted over a 150 times now in sites in dozens of states, with medical and emergency response personnel receiving intensive hands-on instruction from highly qualified and experienced personnel at MCG and UGA. Courses are now taught regularly that routinely utilize disaster drills and exercises.

One notable addition has been the extensive evaluation expertise from the College of Education, which is currently aiding in the quantitative substantiation of learning efficacy in these exercises in Georgia. These metrics will of great utility in demonstrating that health care personnel actually are learning (or not learning) the critical educational outcomes desired from these exercises. One of the largest interactive hospital exercises with mass casualties in the nation was conducted by IHMD in 2006, involving 129 hospitals interacting with real-time medical responses to scientifically relevant pandemic flu casualty model inputs.