Improvement of Employee Drill Response in the Public Health Emergency Response Program

Summary

Impact Statement: 
Local health departments play a critical role in responding to public health emergencies and often test their ability to respond during exercises or drills. One local health department in Illinois used the PDCA cycle to improve its ability to assemble staff in a complete and timely manner during call-down drills, enabling the agency to ensure employees will be available to respond in the event of an emergency.
Summary: 

The Kane County Health Department (KCHD) observed a low response rate to call-down drills conducted with all employees. These drills are mandated as a part of the Public Health Emergency Response program, and they are designed to ensure that employees will be available to respond in the event of an emergency. The project aim was to increase the rate of response from an average of 69% as of December 2010 (with rates as low as 25%) to 95%, thus ensuring a more effective response to emergencies. Using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process, KCHD identified technical issues with the reverse-911 system, and a lack of staff understanding of the process as root causes. Several PDCA cycles retrained staff, redesigned the system by which staff respond to drills, and ensured regular updates to contact information. These cycles resulted in improvement to 90% between December 2010 and June 2011, a rate that has remained stable since the end of the project.

Organization that conducted the QI initiative: 
KCHD
Citation: 

Sharp, J. Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange. Improvement of Employee Drill Response in the Public Health Emergency Response Program. Wed, 03/01/2017 - 12:31. Available at http://phqix.org/content/improvement-employee-drill-response-public-health-emergency-response-program. Accessed March 28, 2024.

Submission Status: 
Completed
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Comments

Submitted by kmunsey on

We just started working on this exact issue. Your project is very helpful and may save us a few steps. Thank you!

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Submitted by ayeliou on

Thank you! This is very useful. We have not done anything like this. It has been in the pipeline but haven't been touched. This will really help direct us into the right path and avoid unncessary steps.

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Submitted by LorrieS on

Thank you. This is exactly what I have been asking of our Emergency Preparedness Coordinator. I will be happy to share your study with her.

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Submitted by KayLock on

Thank you for sharing your work.  Your ideas will help us improve our system!

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Kay Mittelstadt-Lock
MCM Coordinator