What is a SIMEX?
In September the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK EMT) facilitated a 2-day fully immersive outbreak simulation exercise (SIMEX) for over 50 staff and partners of the UK-EMT. The exercise aimed to strengthen the preparedness of UK EMT by ensuring that staff and partners are trained to effectively deliver a unified response to emergencies.
Why are simulation exercises important training for our staff and partners?
The exercise is crucial in assessing an individual’s approach to collaboration, problem solving, planning, adapting and adjusting technical expertise to a new environment and how well they function in different roles. They also gain a sense of what roles and challenges they may encounter, and what activities they may be delivering on a response. By doing so they are better prepared for what it is like to deploy with UK-Med and how to work as part of a UK-Med team.
The main aims of this simulation exercise were for:
- Participants to form a realistic expectation of health operations and clinical care in a large-scale outbreak response in a humanitarian setting.
- Participants to have had the opportunity to test, implement and operationalise standard operating procedures to ensure that they are familiar in their delivery.
- UK-Med and partner organisations to have had the opportunity to work together and demonstrate the importance of interoperability and humanitarian coordination in an outbreak response
- All participants to be able to analyse how humanitarian context specific factors impact on patient/clinical care in an outbreak response
Nurse and Midwife Helen, who took part in the exercise, said
“Knowing the field hospital and the environment, getting to know a multidisciplinary team and having the opportunity to work together and…collaborate to provide high quality care…are super important for being prepared for a real-life scenario”.
What were the main aspects of delivery?
The exercise focused on a diverse range of skills and preparedness to simulate an outbreak response in a complex and changing environment. Three main areas of focus were:
Infection, prevention and control (IPC)- For participants to identify key elements of IPC in an outbreak response, liaise with other partners to enhance and improve the overall response and understand how to implement IPC activities in collaboration with WASH activities.
WASH- For participants to understand what the WASH activities are in an outbreak response and what WASH activities an EMT response can do at community level.
Susanna Keiderling, a Paediatric nurse said it was
“a great experience, learning how to work together with a team of different professionals from all over with different skills”.
Who was involved in the exercise?
Clinical and non-clinical outbreak specialists: This group consisted of NHS staff who have signed up to our deployment register, as well as a few representatives from a global roster of humanitarians. This aimed to strengthen the preparedness by exercising clinical and leadership capabilities and participate in humanitarian coordination.
UK-partners: Representatives form the UK Public Health Rapid Response Support Team (UK-PHRST), FCDO and UK-ISAR, with UKPHRST being fully embedded with the simulation for the full 2-days. This aimed to increase awareness of EMT ways of working and explore on the ground humanitarian coordination.
National EMT partners: We had the pleasure of welcoming representatives from the Ethiopian EMT and Ethiopian Public Health Institute, and representatives form Pakistani EMT. This aimed to demonstrate EMT coordination on the ground as part of an ongoing capacity building support.
Minister of State for Development, Anneliese Dodds said: “In Gaza and elsewhere, aid workers from around the UK are operating in some of the most dangerous places in the world, treating the most vulnerable.
``The UK’s official Emergency Medical Team pools medical expertise from across the country to make a real difference in reacting to humanitarian disasters around the globe.
``The UK government is proud to support their crucial work.``
