California Preparedness Education Network

About Exercise I

This tabletop exercise will provide a forum to address and improve clinic preparedness. Before this exercise, your group will have participated in cal•PEN Module I, and optionally any of the other five cal•PEN Modules. This hands-on exercise is designed to provide an opportunity for medical providers to put the knowledge gained from didactic presentations into action.

Goals and Objectives

• To enhance emergency preparedness recognition, response, and management for your clinic in a disaster, terrorism event, or outbreak of infectious diseases
• To support the didactic learning of Modules I and VI through a tabletop drill.

Health professionals will gain the knowledge and skills to:

• Identify who activates the clinic emergency plan
• Perform the basic actions your clinic takes once the emergency plan is activated
• Make the additional notifications and activations needed in your clinic
• Carry out a coordinated emergency response within your clinic and with external agencies

The cal•PEN Tabletop Exercise is:

• Created and implemented for the development of plans and management of plans—it is not designed to assess clinic staff or personnel.
• Constructed in a narrative format so participant responses advance the narrative toward completion.
• Limited by a time constraint with a period built-in at the conclusion of the exercise for the development of an after-action report.

The cal•PEN Tabletop Exercise follows a prescribed format and scenario. The facilitator will direct the discussion and maintain focus on the leaning objectives within the established time frame. A recorder will capture comments for later consideration and inclusion in the after-action report and corrective action plan.