Practice Makes Prepared: Pediatric Mass Casualty Drill Workshop

Monday, April 28, 2025

11:00am – 12:30pm HST

Location: Convention Center: 302

CE: 1.5

Leader(s)

Joyce Li, MD MPH (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor in Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Medford, Massachusetts, United States

Co-Leader(s)

Anna Lin, MD (she/her/hers)

Clinical Professor
Stanford School of Medicine
Stanford, California, United States
Nichole Davis, MD, MEd

Assistant Professor
Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital, United States
Brent Kaziny, MD (he/him/his)

Associate Professor
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States
KW

Kari Wellnitz, MD

Clinical Associate Professor
University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital
Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Mark Cicero, MD

Associate Professor
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
MA

Marc Auerbach, MD MSci

Professor
Yale School of Medicine
new haven, Connecticut, United States
SC

Sarita Chung, MD (she/her/hers)

Director, Disaster Preparedness, Division of Emergency Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):

Joyce Li, MD MPH: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Anna Lin, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Nichole R. Davis, MD, MEd: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Brent Kaziny, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Kari A. Wellnitz, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Mark x. Cicero, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

marc Auerbach, MD MSci: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Sarita Chung, MD: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Workshop Description: Pediatric mass casualty events are increasing, attributable to both climate change and an increase in active shooter events. Mass casualty events are sporadic and difficult to predict and can impact different areas of health care systems at different times. Recognizing that healthcare systems may have different resources for emergency management, this workshop is designed to help pediatric providers in the emergency department and beyond practice responses to a pediatric mass casualty event, and align with The Joint Commission accreditation standards of at least two disaster drills (an exercise in which circumstances of a disasters are simulated to allow for the opportunity to both practice and test an operations plan) annually.

In this workshop, participants will learn from disaster medicine experts about three different types of mass casualty drills. These drills include 1) a tabletop drill, 2) mini (less than one hour) in-situ simulation drills , and 3) a full hospital drill.

Our team represents national leaders in disaster medicine who will briefly present each type of drill and logistics regarding drill set-up based on their own hands-on experience leading these drills at their institutions. In the main activity, participants will interact with experts for a verbal walk through of each drill and explore drill materials with small group discussions about best strategies for local implementation of these drills. Participants will leave with a toolkit that contains all three types of drills including sample cases, planning materials and means to start implementation at their own institutions.

Learning Objectives:

Describe three modalities for mass casualty event drills: 1) tabletop exercises, 2) mini in-situ simulation drills and 3) full hospital drills
Assess each type of drill and drill materials with disaster medicine experts
Investigate strategies for launching and evaluating tabletop, in-situ and full-scale drills at participant’s home institutions