Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Chapter 5 National and Cross-National Models of Geriatric Disaster 95
In response to the DM education gap, which became apparent when
health science students were excluded from clinical settings during the
SARS outbreak in Canada, the Interprofessional Disaster/Emergency Preparedness
Action Studies (IDEAS) Project Group was formed in 2006.
The group consists of nine member hospitals of the Toronto Academic
Health Science Network; five educational institutions; and municipal,
provincial, and federal government policy representatives. Their objective
was to develop, deliver, and evaluate an 8-week online program in disaster
management and emergency preparedness combined with a live masscasualty
exercise that would promote interprofessional collaboration and
team building among undergraduate students. The course can be integrated
as an elective in numerous undergraduate programs. Students
from medicine; nursing; medical, respirator, and radiation technology;
paramedicine; pharmacy; law enforcement; and media are eligible to enroll.
Embedded in the course are four multilayer games based on four
disasters that affect progressively larger communities: Moscow Theatre
hostage taking, Katrina, tsunami, and pandemic. The online modules include
topics such as preparing for disasters, sharing information, directing
information, sharing resources, skills inventory and simulation preparation,
team cohesion, accountability, and systems analysis. The needs
of the frail and elderly are addressed in the Hurricane Katrina module.
Students also participate in a 1-day community mock-disaster simulation
involving professionals from emergency response and health organizations.
Students work with elderly community volunteers who act as family
health unit patients on site during the simulation. The students also deliver
telehealth visits to older persons in their homes as part of the mock
disaster.
A study was conducted to examine changes in disaster management
competency and interprofessional attitudes after students completed the
course. Results indicated the students made significant gains in DM competencies
and improved their attitudes toward interprofessional education
and practice. The students also reported gaining insight and empathy
into the experiences of patients and families who had participated in the
mock disaster. The IDEAS network team has already made changes to
the curriculum regarding high-risk groups for the next iteration of the
course, which commenced in January 2009 with 400 students. Building
on experiences with IDEAS, a workplace-based interprofessional DM
course will be created in a compressed flexible format that could be delivered
as in-service professional development or long-distance continuing
education to providers currently in practice. The new program will