NWHRN Coalition Service Area – 2023 Medical Response & Surge Exercise (MRSE)

The Northwest Healthcare Response Network will conduct a coalition-wide functional Medical Response & Surge Test (MRSE) exercise on June 22, 2023. The exercise is designed to examine and evaluate the ability of NWHRN and other stakeholders to support medical surge related to a burn mass casualty incident (BMCI). The exercise will consist of multiple mass casualty incidents across the region and will include patients with burn injuries. While previous exercises such as the Coalition Surge Test (CST) focused heavily on placing all patients, this exercise will focus more on the alert, notification, and activation elements of NWHRN’s Burn Annex. The exercise will also assess the availability of critical resources relevant to a BMCI. There will be no actual movement or tracking of patients.

Register HERE before Friday, June 18, to participate. Any questions can be sent to info@nwhrn.org.

Exercise Objectives:
• Assess NWHRN’s capacity to support a large-scale, community-wide surge incident.
• Evaluate a multitude of coalition response and preparedness documents and plan.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of NWHRN’s Burn Annex in responding to multiple BMCIs.
• Test the coordination and communication between healthcare organizations, DMCCs, NWHRN, WMCC, and other partners during a BMCI.
• Identify any gaps or areas for improvement.

Preparation for the Exercise:
Before the exercise:
• Prepare your facility or agency to participate in the exercise: Ensure leadership engagement; facility exercise awareness; and conduct relevant training for those that may play during the exercise. Review NWHRN’s Burn Annex.
During the exercise:
• Functional Exercise: All players will be asked to acknowledge an alert using NWHRN’s primary communication methods. EMS players will be surveyed to identify critical resources necessary to respond to the scenario. Participating healthcare organizations will be asked to update their staffed bed status in WATrac.
• Tabletop Exercise: After NWHRN conducts its internal activation procedures, all players will be invited to a tabletop exercise. The purpose of this tabletop exercise is to assess the communication and coordination between responding agencies and ensure the appropriate notifications are made. Using the updated information in WATrac, NWHRN will present the size of the surge. Players will discuss their alert and activation procedures to ensure they align with the Burn Annex. Players will also have the opportunity to identify resources critical to managing a burn MCI for 24 hours.

After the exercise:
• Attend the After-Action Review Meeting: A player After-Action Review Meeting via webinar will be conducted one week after the exercise to share consolidated initial findings observed during the exercise.
• After-Action Report (AAR): The Network will seek your feedback on a draft AAR (due 60 days after the exercise).