For the first time since 2019, Texas Children’s held an in-person emergency preparedness exercise to help test our readiness. The scenario was a radiologic event resulting in a patient surge at our facility. As leaders in the Gulf-7 Pediatric Disaster Network (G7), we collaborated with the South East Texas Regional Advisory Council (SETRAC) and Texas A&M Engineering Extension Services (TEEX) to host this exercise.
The day started with a mock Incident Command held in Abercrombie where TEEX trainers walked leaders through the scenario, and our teams discussed the key actions they would take. Simultaneously, teams were preparing the fourth floor of the Pavilion for Women for an influx of “patients and families” arriving onsite.
From doing intake and triage at Hobby Airport to walking patients through rooms with social workers and consultation services, the teams simulated all the steps it would take to manage through this type of event.
“It took an incredible effort to set this up, and we’re grateful for everyone’s hard work and participation,” said Dr. Nichole Davis, pediatric emergency medicine attending and Site PI – G7. “It was great to get back to these in-person drills. It’s so important we test ourselves, so we can be prepared if anything like this were to happen.”
While it was a rewarding day for the adolescent “patients” who logged precious volunteer hours, our teams benefited the most from the experience. A robust debrief included input from each area to assess what went right and what could be improved, and everything was on the table. It wasn’t just about providing the right medical care – feedback also included having enough interpreters in Language Services, making sure there would be Wi-Fi at Hobby Airport for triage, using the best color-coding system for patient registration and much more.
“We made so much progress today with this exercise, and I feel confident we are doing all the right things to prepare for these types of emergencies,” said Dr. Brent Kaziny, medical director of Emergency Management and principal investigator – G7. “At the end of the day, our teams can handle anything, as we learned from managing through COVID, but there is always room to improve and get better for the sake of our patients.”
