Supporting Perioperative Safety During a Disaster Through Clinical Crisis Education

Disruptive domestic and global events can directly affect health care workers' ability to deliver safe, quality care. Health care workers should have an awareness and understanding of the disaster continuum and how their actions throughout each phase can affect the crisis response. Robust, intentional education and training for all team members is essential to uphold safe clinical environments and delivery of high-quality care during crises. This article explores key elements of providing education during a crisis response, including launching a command center, forming a structured team with strong leadership, establishing organized communication channels, conducting educational needs assessments, and developing and implementing education plans to assist with mitigating any issues related to knowledge deficits. In addition, recommendations for evaluating the effectiveness of the education at producing the desired learning outcomes are provided, as well as the implications of such a program for perioperative educators, frontline staff members, and leaders.