Comparative Cost of Virtual Reality Training and Live Exercises for Training Hospital Workers for Evacuation.

Adoption of virtual reality technology may be delayed due to high up-front costs with unknown returns on that investment. In this article, we present a cost analysis of using virtual reality as a training tool. Virtual reality was used to train neonatal intensive care workers in hospital evacuation.

Effectiveness of positive pressure ventilation during newborn care unit evacuation.

Objective: Assess the utility of high fidelity simulation in understanding effectiveness of bag-valve ventilation in a simulated newborn intensive care unit vertical evacuation.

Participants: A total of 70 participants, (13 teams of 4-6 staff) including physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other support personnel participated in a 90-min evacuation sessions.

Methods: Two wireless high-fidelity newborn mannequins (Gaumand Scientific) provided real-time data of ventilation support during a NICU evacuation exercise.

Collaboration Between Academia and Practice: Interprofessional Crises Leadership and Disaster Management.

An innovative interprofessional disaster preparedness program was designed and implemented through an academic-practice partnership between a large midwestern children's hospital and a community-based state university. This course was part of a constellation of courses developed in response to Presidential Directive (HSPD) 8, a mandate to standardize disaster response training that was issued after the inefficiencies following Hurricane Katrina. A hybrid immersive and didactic approach was used to train senior leadership and frontline clinicians.

Evacuation performance evaluation tool.

Objective: Hospitals conduct evacuation exercises to improve performance during emergency events. An essential aspect in this process is the creation of reliable and valid evaluation tools. The objective of this article is to describe the development and implications of a disaster evacuation performance tool that measures one portion of the very complex process of evacuation.

Preparing for optimal outcomes: a live evacuation exercise.

Requirements for emergency preparation and training are a part of medical facility guidelines. At one pediatric level I trauma center with 525 beds and more than 12,000 employees, the perioperative teams received regular evacuation training but had never held a live evacuation exercise, so a team made up of perioperative and support personnel created a plan for a live evacuation exercise. The team evaluated the six key areas of evacuation planning: communication, resources and assets, security and safety, staff responsibilities, utilities management, and clinical and patient support activities.