Disaster Collaborative Exercises for Healthcare Teamwork in a Saudi Context

This study aimed to evaluate the development of healthcare teamwork during and after the collaboration tabletop exercises, through observation and interview methods. Integration and maturity theoretical models were employed to explain the collaborative challenges in teams that may suffer from unequally distributed power, hierarchies, and fragmentation. Using three-level collaboration tabletop exercises and the Command and control, Safety, Communication, Assessment, Treatment, Triage, Transport (CSCATTT) instrument, 100 healthcare workers were observed during each step in the implementation of the CSCATTT instrument using two simulated scenarios. The results show a lack of integration and team maturity among participants in the first scenario, leading to the delayed start of the activity, task distribution, and decision making. These shortcomings were improved in the second scenario. In-depth interviews with 20 participants in the second phase of the study revealed improved knowledge and practical skills, self-confidence, and ability in team building within trans-professional groups in the second scenario, which in concordance with the integration theory, was due to the attempts made in the first scenario. Additionally, there was an improvement in the team's maturity, which in concordance with the maturity theory, was due to the knowledge and practical skills during scenario plays. These results indicate the importance of continuous tabletop training, and the use of CSCATTT as a collaborative instrument, to promote the development of collaboration and to test the concept of preparedness.

We Didn't win the battle, but we are gonna win the war!

Funding is not always essential for performing good and relevant research, but it helps. Funding frees additional time and resources, as well as co-production and co-creational processes that may not be available to individual researchers alone but may grow from larger research collaboration. In 2019, we were both involved in an application for funding of the development of a Critical Pandemic Response (CPR) exercise. The aim was to improve multinational preparedness, cooperation, collaboration and response to the possible spread of public health risks and test a validated exercise model. The case was a pandemic. At the last minute, we were unable to apply due to unexpected causes. Little did we know how spot on our initiative was back then with the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019. Copyright © 2020 Author(s).