Card 1 · Purpose
Why you are running this
- Prove the aid station works before you depend on it.
- Find gaps in kit, people, footprint, training, comms and evacuation.
- Start with a likely case, not the disaster.
Frame it to the team: “We are here to test the room and the system. Nobody is being assessed.”
Card 2 · Profile
Define the mission profile
Write down, in one line each:
- Population — number, age, health, screened or not.
- Duration of the task.
- Distance and time to definitive care.
- Evacuation options and their reliability.
These four choices decide everything downstream.
Card 3 · Choose
Pick the likely scenario
- Take the most frequent presentation for your population, or the moderate-acuity case that touches the most systems.
- One patient. Single problem. No mass casualty yet.
- Choose a case that forces the team to find kit, use the space, and reach back.
Good first cases: a fall with a bleeding limb; an older patient with chest discomfort and near-syncope; a breathing complaint needing oxygen and a drug from the locked store.
Card 4 · People
Recruit and co-design
- Bring in the actual team who would respond: nurse, medic, crew, driver, radio operator.
- Sit with them for a short co-design chat: what would make this realistic for you?
- Let them shape the scenario. Do not foist it on them.
Co-designed sims get engaged teams and honest gaps.
Card 5 · Scene
Set the scene with props
- Use SIMPLESIM low-fidelity props (see Props & Kit).
- Lay out the space you will actually use. Sketch it on the Layout Sketcher.
- Put the real kit where it really lives, so access is tested honestly.
Do not tidy the room for the sim. Run it as it is.
Card 6 · Safety
The psychological contract
- State the fiction clearly. State that it is a safe practice space.
- Simple case first. This builds trust before any hard scenario.
- Agree a stop word. Anyone can pause the sim.
Say it out loud: “Nothing here goes on anyone's record. We are learning the system together.”
Card 7 · Run
Run the scenario
- Assign roles: facilitator, patient/actor, responders, and one scribe/observer.
- Give the vitals from a printed card or tablet; update them as the team acts.
- Let the gaps happen. Do not rescue the team by fetching the missing item.
When they reach for something that is not there, that is the point of the exercise. Note it.
Card 8 · Watch
Observe against the five lenses
The observer watches for gaps in:
- Kit was the drug, tool or consumable there and findable?
- Personnel right people, right skills, right numbers?
- Footprint did the space and flow work?
- Training where did competence fall short?
- Comms/Evac did reach-back and evacuation function?
Card 9 · Debrief
Field PEARLS — the 4 questions
Keep it short. You do not need to be the person who led the case to debrief it (better if you are not).
- 1. How are you feeling?
- 2. Can someone summarise the case?
- 3. What worked well?
- 4. What would you change next time, and why?
Two to five minutes is enough for a smoke-test. Depth comes later.
Card 10 · Capture
Turn gaps into actions
- Open the Gap Analysis Worksheet while it is fresh.
- Label each finding: Add Consolidate Reduce Keep Re-organise
- Rank by frequency against consequence.
A gap you did not write down is a gap you will hit for real.
Card 11 · Escalate
Decide the next scenario
- If the ordinary case ran clean, raise fidelity one step.
- Add a complication, a second casualty, or a degraded-comms twist.
- Work toward the HALO event only when the basics hold.
The path to managing the nightmare runs through a dozen ordinary cases first.