DRC Structure
The Disaster Response Collaborative (DRC) builds on the children’s hospital infrastructure formed during the Disaster Networking Collaborative (DNC); however, no prior DNC participation is required.
The DRC is designed to help children’s hospitals shift from improving their disaster preparedness infrastructure and networking toward strengthening their internal as well as external disaster response capabilities and capacities.
These efforts will include refining disaster planning and mobilizing best practices while developing strategies to strengthen pediatric disaster management across states and regions.
As a part of the collaborative, children’s hospital teams will be asked to complete a gap analysis survey in fall 2024 and conduct a tabletop exercise early in 2025 (about 6 months into this initiative) to review plans, identify gaps, and establish an action plan for follow-up and improvements. Later on, teams will be encouraged and supported to conduct drills that can test and monitor improvements. Resources, guidance, templates, and pediatric patient scenarios will be provided. Opportunities to observe structured collaborative-focused tabletop exercises or drills will also be available.
Participants
Participants have access to consensus driven practices, collaborative sessions, quality improvement strategies, resources, coaching and presentations by experts, and networking opportunities to improve the care of children and adolescents in their community – at no cost.
We encourage teams to have a minimum of two members to be able to share the work and offer diverse perspectives. A larger team allows for additional support and works best.
Team members may include the following: emergency/disaster management professionals, medical directors, emergency coordinators, paramedics, physicians, nurses, social workers, managers, mental and behavioral health professionals, representatives from hospital operations, security, quality/performance improvement, and public relations. Teams can include external members (e.g., community hospital and/or Healthcare Coalition representatives along with an EMSC State Partner Program Manager) if this approach will add value to project work.
Team Leader
The team leader will serve as a point of contact to communicate with participants and support the team to select a focus area and design an improvement project. Team members will work with the team leader to provide input and expertise on the disaster plan and improvement activities. Access to the PPN data portal will be given to all team members to update team details and improvement activities, as well as view and share progress.
The DRC sessions will be held from September 2024 through June 2026.
Phase One: September 2024 to February 2025 – 90-minute Monthly Collaborative Sessions with all Participants
- Children’s hospitals that did not participate in the Disaster Networking Collaborative (DNC) will be offered a separate orientation to the DRC if desired.
- All registered children’s hospital teams meet together on a monthly basis for 6 months to learn about the collaborative structure and expectations, the four focus areas/topics from experts, and opportunities specific to tabletop exercises and drills.
In early 2025, teams will decide which focus area or topic to guide their improvement efforts
Phase Two: March 2025 to June 2026 – Focus Area Team Meetings and Collaborative Sessions
- Quality improvement projects are discussed within each hospital team and details as well as a timeline are agreed upon.
- Each of the children’s hospitals that selected the same focus area meet together for two months (i.e. March/April 2025) to discuss strategies and resources specific to the focus area and to determine options for planning or adapting a tabletop exercise to review a disaster plan (or component in a plan).
- On the third month (May 2025), all collaborative participants meet together.
- The meeting cadence described above will continue throughout the collaborative.
- Opportunities to observe structured tabletop exercises or drills will be offered to participants.
- Teams are encouraged to plan and conduct a tabletop exercise based on existing plans/protocols specific to their focus area and develop an After-Action report. Using quality (process) measures identified in each Focus Area Intervention Bundle Guide, teams will consider whether to test out improvements/achievements and steps identified in the After-Action report to plan and conduct an initial drill, and after improvement interventions a follow up drill, with support and resources from the PPN Drills & Exercises Domain.
Please Note: The entire DRC meets quarterly (approximately every 3 months) to share their team’s progress and strategies, participating in breakout groups for networking and collaboration across regions.
How it works
Participants will:
Attend recurring learning sessions with leaders and peers (monthly, via Zoom)
Assess their hospital’s current state of pediatric disaster response using provided tools
Evaluate and adjust activities to enhance your hospital’s disaster response plans to adopt consensus guidelines and, ultimately, be better ready/situated/prepared to drive future disaster response efforts
Select, design, and implement a project to improve disaster response at the hospital unit, entire hospital, community, and regional levels
Consider how enhancement of plans/protocols by participating in a tabletop exercise and two drills can help the team monitor and achieve improvements and desired outcomes
Connect with fellow participants to share ideas, barriers, and achievements
Timeline
The DRC sessions will start in September 2024 and continue through June 2026. Children’s hospitals can register online.
Participants can expect to spend 5 to 8 hours per month on collaborative activities, including the monthly learning session, project improvement work, and participation in exercises.
Continuing education for physicians, nurses, social workers, and EMTs is pending.
For more information or if you have questions, email DNCPPN@austin.texas.edu.
