A mass-casualty surge is at the doors. You are the hospital's incident command. Run the response, save the most lives.
A bridge has come down during the evening commute, and dozens of injured are arriving at St. Aldous Regional Hospital. You are an original character on its incident command — the Incident Commander, a section chief, the Liaison Officer, or the Public Information Officer.
Across the worst hours of the surge you activate the plan, run the triage flow through the red, yellow, and green areas, make surge space, decide on diversion and transfers with the region, and keep the families and the public told the truth. The conflict is scarcity and the clock.
The single point of command for the whole hospital — activates the plan, sets the objectives for each operational period, and makes the calls no one else is placed to make.
The chief who runs the response on the floor — stands up the triage point and the red, yellow, and green treatment areas, and keeps patients flowing to the right level of care.
The keeper of the picture — tracks every patient, bed, and resource, writes the incident action plan, and tells Command what the next operational period will need.
The chief who supplies the response — staffs the labor pool, keeps the blood bank and supply carts stocked, and rotates exhausted staff before judgment fails.
The hospital's line to everyone outside it — EMS dispatch, the regional coordination center, the other hospitals, and public health — who arranges diversion and transfers when the hospital is full.
The voice of the hospital — briefs the press, answers rumor with fact, and works with the Family Assistance Center so every waiting family gets honest news.
The command and general staff working from the Hospital Command Center: the Incident Commander, the Public Information and Liaison Officers, and the Operations, Planning, and Logistics Section Chiefs. Their charge is to organize the hospital's response — the triage flow, the beds, blood, operating rooms, and staff, the transfers and diversion, and honest news for families and the public — so the clinicians can treat patients. Saving the most lives by running the system well.
The physicians, nurses, surgeons, and technicians treating the patients in the red, yellow, and green areas and the operating rooms, led by their unit leaders and the Medical Care Branch Director. They need the command staff to send them the right patients, the staff and supplies to treat them, and decisions made quickly enough to matter. The patient in front of them, treated well.
The hospital's executives and administrators above the command staff. They answer for the whole institution — its finances, its elective patients, its reputation, and its obligations to the region — and they expect every costly commitment to be justified on a clear picture. A hospital that holds, and commitments it can keep.
Regional dispatch, the ambulance crews, the regional coordination center, the neighbouring hospitals, and public health. They route the injured, share the load, and depend on St. Aldous to report its capacity honestly and keep its promises. The load shared across the region so no hospital breaks.
The families of the injured waiting for news, the walking wounded who found their own way to the hospital, and the press covering the incident. They are owed honesty, care, and timely information, and how the response treats them shapes the trust the hospital depends on long after the surge is over. Honest news, humane care, and their people safely through.
One run through a beat is an attempt — the same word your gradebook uses. Set the length in turns, alone or in groups, and the Activity is waiting when your students arrive.
