Planning a Pediatric Tabletop Exercise: Who to Invite

​Following are some of the players that can be included in a pediatric tabletop exercise, depending on the scenario topic:

• ​AAP chapter leaders
• Healthcare coalition coordinators
• Behavioral health experts ​
• State health officials (emergency preparedness departments and children and families departments)
• Emergency medical service professionals ​
• State hospital association leaders
• Medical trainees
• ​State Department of Human Services (children’s department)
• Child care or early childhood educational program representatives
• State medical association representatives
• Family-to-family health network center representatives ​
• Statewide nursing line specialists
• Hospital leaders, including the chief information officer ​
• Nonprofit children’s organizations or non-governmental organizations that respond to disasters
• Public health epidemiologists (when using a disease scenario) ​
• First responders (police, fire officials)
• School district representatives and/or school superintendents ​
• Medical transportation service authorities
• Diverse organizations, such as Spanish-speaking organizations, American Sign Language interpreters, and organizations that partner with people who speak English as a second language
• Media spokespersons (multi-lingual representatives, including Spanish speaking and American Sign Language interpreters)*

^{*Communications and messaging are important components of a preparedness plan and therefore crucial to include in an exercise. Suboptimal messaging can worsen a crisis, so an exercise provides participants with the opportunity to discuss appropriate messaging and how those messages will be communicated. It can also be determined to whom messages will be communicated, as well as when and where.}

Pediatric experts can play a key role in ensuring children’s needs are met during a pandemic or public health emergency. Including pediatric experts and national, state and local decision-makers together in a pediatric tabletop exercise can reinforce the important roles each person has in planning for an emergency and identify potential gaps in pediatric readiness. Sometimes various pediatric disciplines are recommended, as primary care providers, hospitalists or medical subspecialists offer differing perspectives. Therefore, players may include experts from outside of the state. Consider including representatives that represent the following:

• Emergency Support Function 8 Network
• Joint Information Center
• Regional Advisory Councils or designated regional coordinators
• National medical associations
• Pediatric societies
• Emergency responders in other states that have knowledge of children in disasters
• Children

There are national organizations that may be willing to partner on a tabletop exercise, providing valuable resources. Following are some organizations to consider contacting about the possibility of partnering together on a pediatric tabletop exercise:

• ​Administration for Children and Families
• American Academy of Pediatrics ​
• American Academy of Family Physicians ​
• American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists
• American College of Emergency Physicians ​
• American Nurses Association
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
• Emergency Medical Services for Children Innovation and Improvement Center
• Emergency Nurses Association
• National Association of County and City Health Officials
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
• National Association of School Nurses
• National Pediatric Disaster Coalition
• National Human Trafficking Center

In addition, there may be occasion to partner with the following federal programs that fund state grantees to work on preparedness efforts. Therefore, these projects might have existing exercise plans, experts, and resources for exercises that are not otherwise known:

• Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC)
• Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP)
• Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) (state and local agencies)
• State Emergency Management Agency
• Local Emergency Management Agency