Presentation
Resilient Performance of Incident Management Teams during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Content Analysis of Situation Reports
Event Type
Lecture
In-Person
Macroergonomics
Occupational Ergonomics
TimeWednesday, October 6th2:42pm - 3:00pm EDT
LocationHarborside Salon B
DescriptionWhen the COVID-19 pandemic began, Incident Management Teams (IMTs) were established across the US for on-scene response. Despite critical roles of IMTs during the public health crisis, current knowledge of IMT resilience throughout the pandemic is limited. This paper presents findings regarding the resilient performance of IMTs during the COVID-19 pandemic using content analysis of published IMT situation reports. IMT resilience themes were categorized a priori by space, supply, staff, and system. Themes in each category included actions to enforce social distancing measures, organizing and maintaining the stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) resources, maximizing staff resources while minimizing exposure to the virus, and widescale communication efforts. IMTs sought to make decisions that would ensure the health and safety of responders and civilians, mitigate the spread of the virus, and protect fundamental needs of affected communities. Our findings will inform efforts to make IMTs more resilient in public health crises.
Authors
Assistant Professor
Director