Emergency Medical Care on-Line Simulations

The National Bioterrorism Civilian Medical Response Center (CIMERC) develops tools to meet the needs of health care organizations, emergency managers, and disaster responders challenged by disparate capabilities and limited resources, as they plan for an integrated response to natural or man-made disasters.

Real-time Incident Preparedness Simulation (RIPS) is an electronically enhanced version of a collection of disaster scenarios, entitled Strategies for Incident Preparedness, created by CIMERC. A dynamic web application, RIPS promotes collaborative disaster response training between agencies. This tool not only demonstrates the necessity for quick and efficient decision making during times of disaster, but also the ways in which each participating members' actions affect each other during and after the response. Users are timed and must make crucial decisions rapidly, which affects the outcome of the simulated response. Performance is further evaluated using weighted scoring metrics such as timelines, accuracy, number of casualties resulting, cost efficiency, and resulting public opinion anticipated from their decisions. Through this process RIPS can help users to identify inconsistencies in policy, and gaps in communication and other mission critical areas.

Users receive an automated debriefing capturing the decision made throughout the simulation. The unique features of RIPS combine to create a powerful, interactive and reality based training tool to assist disaster response professionals make the best possible decisions using a more coordinated approach during complex medical emergencies.