Citation

Donevant SB, Svendsen ER, Richter JV, Tavakoli AS, Craig JBR, Boltin ND, Valafar H, DiNardi SR, Culley JM. J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

College of Nursing University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Medical Informatics Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1093/jamia/ocz087

PMID

31246255

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The testing of informatics tools designed for use during mass casualty incidents presents a unique problem as there is no readily available population of victims or identical exposure setting. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of designing, planning, and executing a functional exercise to accomplish the research objective of validating an informatics tool specifically designed to identify and triage victims of irritant gas syndrome agents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a 3-year time frame, the research team and partners developed the Emergency Department Informatics Computational Tool and planned a functional exercise to test it using medical records data from 298 patients seen in 1 emergency department following a chlorine gas exposure in 2005.

RESULTS: The research team learned valuable lessons throughout the planning process that will assist future researchers with developing a functional exercise to test informatics tools. Key considerations for a functional exercise include contributors, venue, and information technology needs (ie, hardware, software, and data collection methods).

DISCUSSION: Due to the nature of mass casualty incidents, testing informatics tools and technology for these incidents is challenging. Previous studies have shown a functional exercise as a viable option to test informatics tools developed for use during mass casualty incidents.

CONCLUSION: Utilizing a functional exercise to test new mass casualty management technology and informatics tools involves a painstaking and complex planning process; however, it does allow researchers to address issues inherent in studying informatics tools for mas casualty incidents.

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en

Keywords

chlorine exposure; disaster; functional exercise; informatics; mass casualty incident