Still can't believe what I did this week!

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I work in a small rural hospital in the Physical Therapy department. We are a tight knit facility where everyone knows everyone (which turned out to be lucky for me!) and we had a really big deal exercise that involved most of the hospital.

Early Thursday morning an announcement came over the loud speaker that we were having a D500 (disaster) exercise and to follow the protocol. My job as Rehab Assistant was to take a head count of bodies in the department and those I could call in and report to the incident command. I did that (a little late...we had to read the manual to make sure we were doing it right :imbar ) and just happened to be in the right place at the right time, I guess. My director of operations had me "put on a vest" and "go play". Here I am...glorified receptionist...now the "Director of Ancillary Services" for a disaster drill! I spent the next 4 hours coordinating Lab, Radiology, Pharmacy and Respiratory Therapy! I was in charge of getting the information about the contaminant (Methyl Bromide), relaying that info to the incident command, putting staff on alert, lending a hand whenever one was needed...It was amazing! We had National Guard Blackhawk Helicopters landing on our helipad, "patients" being decontaminated outside of the ED, airway compromised "patients" waiting for a vent to be transported from 45 miles away....I can't explain what a rush it was.

During the debriefing I stressed that in a real disaster a clinician needed to be in my position but I thanked them for the opportunity to be a part of the exercise. It fueled my fire to become a nurse in ways I could never have imagined--incredible!

If you ever get the chance to be a part of anything like that, JUMP at the chance!! I'm still spinning!

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Specializes in LTC.

Laniev--that sounds awesome!! I would have had such a nervous stomach but I'm glad YOU got the experience.

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Specializes in Peds, PICU, Home health, Dialysis.

Thats awesome -- I can imagine how stressful it must have been.

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I work in a small rural hospital in the Physical Therapy department. We are a tight knit facility where everyone knows everyone (which turned out to be lucky for me!) and we had a really big deal exercise that involved most of the hospital.

Early Thursday morning an announcement came over the loud speaker that we were having a D500 (disaster) exercise and to follow the protocol. My job as Rehab Assistant was to take a head count of bodies in the department and those I could call in and report to the incident command. I did that (a little late...we had to read the manual to make sure we were doing it right :imbar ) and just happened to be in the right place at the right time, I guess. My director of operations had me "put on a vest" and "go play". Here I am...glorified receptionist...now the "Director of Ancillary Services" for a disaster drill! I spent the next 4 hours coordinating Lab, Radiology, Pharmacy and Respiratory Therapy! I was in charge of getting the information about the contaminant (Methyl Bromide), relaying that info to the incident command, putting staff on alert, lending a hand whenever one was needed...It was amazing! We had National Guard Blackhawk Helicopters landing on our helipad, "patients" being decontaminated outside of the ED, airway compromised "patients" waiting for a vent to be transported from 45 miles away....I can't explain what a rush it was.

During the debriefing I stressed that in a real disaster a clinician needed to be in my position but I thanked them for the opportunity to be a part of the exercise. It fueled my fire to become a nurse in ways I could never have imagined--incredible!

If you ever get the chance to be a part of anything like that, JUMP at the chance!! I'm still spinning!

Sounds very exciting and seems like you handled it brilliantly and did a GREAT job :monkeydance:

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I work in a small rural hospital in the Physical Therapy department. We are a tight knit facility where everyone knows everyone (which turned out to be lucky for me!) and we had a really big deal exercise that involved most of the hospital.

Early Thursday morning an announcement came over the loud speaker that we were having a D500 (disaster) exercise and to follow the protocol. My job as Rehab Assistant was to take a head count of bodies in the department and those I could call in and report to the incident command. I did that (a little late...we had to read the manual to make sure we were doing it right :imbar ) and just happened to be in the right place at the right time, I guess. My director of operations had me "put on a vest" and "go play". Here I am...glorified receptionist...now the "Director of Ancillary Services" for a disaster drill! I spent the next 4 hours coordinating Lab, Radiology, Pharmacy and Respiratory Therapy! I was in charge of getting the information about the contaminant (Methyl Bromide), relaying that info to the incident command, putting staff on alert, lending a hand whenever one was needed...It was amazing! We had National Guard Blackhawk Helicopters landing on our helipad, "patients" being decontaminated outside of the ED, airway compromised "patients" waiting for a vent to be transported from 45 miles away....I can't explain what a rush it was.

During the debriefing I stressed that in a real disaster a clinician needed to be in my position but I thanked them for the opportunity to be a part of the exercise. It fueled my fire to become a nurse in ways I could never have imagined--incredible!

If you ever get the chance to be a part of anything like that, JUMP at the chance!! I'm still spinning!

woahhhh wayyy cool!!!

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