Day 1 – Disaster Medicine and Management on Campus

Discussion of Communications and relevance to incidents.

1. Establishing a model/guidelines for an incident.
2. Extreme’s example – Hurricane Katrina, September 11, 2001; Anomalies
3. Model basis should be realistic in scope/size to establish model.
4. Playing 911 tapes from 9/11/01 – dialogue between responder and dispatch.  World trade center “send everyone” – it looks like it was intentional – could be a terrorist act.
5. Communications theory model:
1. Message transmitted
2. Encoder/interpreter/decoder
3. message reply
4. Encoder/interpreter/decoder
1. Osgood & Schramm Model
2. If we don’t know the message has been received, then we don’t know if we communicated.
3. Receiver –> Message –> Feedback
1. Intolerable in a disaster scene.
2. Order communicated, and don’t respond, insubordination.
6. E.G. of spin - Audio tape from 50’s – demonstrating Atomic Bomb detonation.  Optimistic and demo – breaks in with an alert –the wind shifted and the fallout will fall on St. George, Utah. 
7. Important to know the limitations
1. Dead area
2. Heavy radio traffic
3. Their own voice – modulation of voice [enunciate]
4. Open carrier [holds down push to talk]
5. Mumblers…
8. Engine 5 and 6 example [good and bad communication]
1. Audio examples
2. Yelling messages are unintelligible over radio communication and can over excite the situation.
3. Catlett,VA Example.  Chief goes with a personal car –to scene.  The Chief radios pumping unit, radio back and forth over missing, Chief getting angry, Driver angry and sped up hill.  Hit by train.
9. Characteristics of Effective Communication
1. Clear and Calm
2. No first or last names
3. No ten codes
4. No yelling
5. Acknowledge message received
6. No EMOTION
7. Stay Clear and Calm
10. Radio Communications
1. Brevity (FCC 90.403C)
2. Permissible (FCC 90.403D)
1. “Ask self – is this message necessary?”
2. Example of Meridian One fire [Philadelphia, PA] and the loss of three firefighters.
3. Frequency and repeaters
4. When planning – radios don’t meet the need of the bigger picture – towers etc. need to be factored into the equation.
3. Interference (FCC 90.403E)
4. Permissible (FCC 90.405)
5. Virginia Tech discussion in the communications breakdown.  More to follow with John Giduck.