Scenario Village Proctoring
Contributing writer: Amanda Westervelt, Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, Operations Specialist
Proctors are a critical part of the scenario village exercise experience. Proctors support survivor volunteer actors, observe the players as they work through the exercise, evaluate demonstrated skills, identify areas for improvement, deliver injects, provide simulated effects and responses, and monitor the safety of all participants during the course of the event. At the end of the exercise, a proctor provides the NET players with constructive criticism and positive reinforcement.
Prep and Safety Briefing for Players
The safety briefing is given by a proctor before the Players move from the lobby to the staging area. It should not take more than a few minutes. Remind Players:
- To sign in if they haven't already done so.
- To yell "REAL WORLD" to stop the exercise if they observe anything unsafe taking place (they should trust their gut too).
- (If we brought the beads)...wear Mardi Gras beads if you do not want to be photographed.
- To do a sharp instrument check...are you sure you don't have any on you?
- Not to carry Survivor Volunteers down stairs. But instead, to let them stand and walk down and then resume the patient carry.
- Have a flashlight for darkened areas. If you don't have a flashlight, don't go in.
- What the different lanyard colors mean.
- To leave PPB Training in better shape than we found it; don't leave any garbage or anything like that, or we don't get invited back. We are guests here.
- The basic exercise flow: they'll stage. go into the village, assess, and render aid.
- Not to take too long for assessment. And acknowledge people you see who need help even if you're not rescuing them yet...don't just ignore them. Talk about "response tempo".
- If this is a mixed group, indicate the Team Leader.
- To have fun, do not stress; it's only a FAIL if someone is hurt in the exercise. Otherwise, this is the place to make mistakes.
- There will be a hotwash at the end.
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Prep and Safety Briefing for Survivor Volunteers
The safety briefing is given by a proctor before the Survivor Volunteers move from the lobby to the staging area. Be sure to leave adequate time for questions. Let Survivor Volunteers know:
- To sign in if they haven't already done so.
- To yell "REAL WORLD" to stop the exercise if they observe anything unsafe taking place (they should trust their gut too).
- (If we brought the beads)...wear Mardi Gras beads if you do not want to be photographed.
- To do a sharp instrument check...are you sure you don't have any on you?
- They should never be carried down stairs. But instead, let them stand and walk down and then resume the patient carry.
- What the different lanyard colors mean.
- To leave PPB Training in better shape than we found it; don't leave any garbage or anything like that, or we don't get invited back. We are guests here.
- The basic exercise flow: staging, going into the village, assessing, and rendering aid.
- Get ready for the frequent "Hurry up and wait" of being a Volunteer Survivor.
- There will be a hotwash at the end and they are welcome to participate and offer how things went from their perspective.
- Situation with lunch and refreshments.
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Hotwash
The Scenario Village hotwash is an opportunity for all participants to decide how they think the exercise went. It is important not to frame in terms of "success" or "failure" since this is a practice response. What is more important is what people learned.
Begin by affirming their hard work. Often, no matter what happened during the exercise or how well they performed, volunteers feel like they failed...be sure to disabuse them of that notion.
Thumb: Something that went well
Index finger: Something you'll remember for next time
Middle finger: Something that went not great
Ring finger: One relationship you're going to keep from this network
Pinky: One thing you promise to do as a result of this exercise
- Organizational roles and responsibilities are clearly identified
- I understood my role in the response
- The incident objectives were met
- Participants communicated clearly
- I brought the right gear with me
