Three-day workshop on CBRN hospital preparedness takes place in Prague, Czechia
A three-day workshop on hospital preparedness for CBRN emergencies has taken place in Prague, Czechia.
Organised by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the Czech Ministry of Health, the State Office for Nuclear Safety and the National Radiation Institute, the workshop convened multidisciplinary teams including clinicians, emergency managers, nurses and hospital leadership.
The aims of the workshop were to strengthen hospitals' coordination and decision making, improve operational readiness for high risk scenarios, align hospital procedures with national preparedness frameworks, and enhance internal and external communication systems during CBRN emergencies.
Posting on LinkedIn, the World Health Organization representative for Czechia, Zsofia Pusztai, wrote that "A true highlight of the workshop was on day three when participants engaged in a full scale simulation exercise using the EMERGO methodology, managing a realistic mass casualty scenario involving a radiological incident."
EMERGO is a "dedicated design method and development toolkit to design, develop, implement and evaluate such scenario-based serious games for acquiring complex professional skills", according to the Open University of the Netherlands, who developed the methodology.
"The exercise tested hospital response systems in real time, from triage and decontamination to surge capacity and cooperation with authorities," wrote Pusztai. "The workshop demonstrated how multidisciplinary teamwork under pressure helps identify strengths and gaps, ultimately contributing to stronger preparedness across the country."
Laura Lloyd-Braff, Vitalii Stetsyk, Kateryna Degtiarova, Judith Starkulla, Sabri Gmach, Artur Munteanu and Chesov Ion were named as facilitators for the workshop.
