Using tabletop exercises to evaluate a community's preparedness for pandemic influenza

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Michael Stoto, PhD¹, Paul D. Biddinger, MD, FACEP², Rebecca Orfaly Cadigan, MS³, and Elena Savoia, MD MPH³. (1) School of Nursing & Health Studies, Georgetown University, 3700 Reservoir Road, NW Box 571107, Washington, DC 20057-1107, (202) 687-3292, stotom@georgetown.edu, (2) Center for Public Health Preparedness, Harvard School of Public Heatlh, 677 Huntington Avenue, Landmark Center, 3rd Floor East, Boston, MA 02115, (3) Center for Public Health Preparedness, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Landmark Center, 3rd Floor East, Boston, MA 02115

A tabletop exercise for emergency preparedness gathers individuals who would be involved in a community's emergency response, presents them with a scenario describing a terrorist attack or a major disease outbreak, and asks them how they would respond. Local public health agencies (LPHAs) and partner organizations in the communities that they serve are increasingly using tabletop exercises to raise consciousness about public health preparedness, train staff, and test preparedness plans. Using the experience of tabletop exercises that we conducted in multiple locations in New England, we describe how a tabletop exercise focused on pandemic influenza can be used to evaluate a community's preparedness for bioterrorism and major infectious disease outbreaks. We have found that a tabletop exercise best evaluates a community's preparedness when it involves: 1) gathering decision-makers from the public health and other agencies that would actually be involved in responding to the event; 2) presenting them with a realistic scenario that presents choices that test the community's ability to respond effectively to the pandemic; 3) structuring the tabletop exercise to force decisions; 4) having a predetermined list outlining the components of an effective public health response, and 5) using trained, knowledgeable observers to evaluate the community's response to the scenario.

Learning Objectives:

Following this presentation, the audience should be able to

1) plan an conduct an effective tabletop exercise addressing pandemic influenza, bioterrorist attack, or other major disease outbreak
2) use a tabletop exercise to evaluate a community’s preparedness for pandemic influenza, bioterrorist attack, or other major disease outbreak

Keywords: Infectious Diseases, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation

Experiences and Exercises in Responding to Epidemics and Bioterror Events

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA