Instructions for Searching the Database
The Public Health Preparedness Database can be used to find examples of preparedness exercises. Each exercise was evaluated using the 14 Exercise Design Evaluation Criteria. Some exercises include samples of documentation, which may be downloaded for use.
How to Search the Database
The Public Health Preparedness Database can be searched in three easy steps. Note that the database allows you to search by both type of exercise and type of agent or by either one of these categories on its own.
First, check off the type or types of exercise you want to include. Five types of exercises are included: drill, orientation, tabletop exercise, functional exercise, full-scale exercise. You may also check “See all” if you want all types of exercises to be included.
Next, check off biological or chemical agents of interests. Agents are included in one of four categories: Biological – Infectious, Biological – Non-Infectious, Chemical, or Other. You can check individual diseases within or across categories or can select to search all agents within a particular category.
Click the “Submit Query” button. If you would like to start your search over, click the “Reset” button.
How to Interpret the Results
The results of your search are presented in two parts: Search Criteria and Search Results.
Search Criteria
At the top of the screen, you will see a summary of the search criteria you entered into the database search engine.
Search Results
Beneath your search criteria, you will find a list of the results of your search. Each exercise is assessed in terms of overall performance as well as according to each of the five domains used in developing the evaluation criteria.
On this page, you will find the overall score for each exercises in your search results as well as the score for the exercise within each of the five domains.
Click on the Exercise Name link for detailed information about how the exercise was scored on each of the 14 criteria, as well as other descriptive information about the exercise and available documentation. In addition, you will find links to the original exercise materials where available.*
Descriptive information include:
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lead organization for conducting the exercise,
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the geographic region in which the exercise took place (e.g., county,
state, region),
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the type
of exercise,
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the goals and objectives of the exercise,
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the agent(s) used in the exercise,
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the source of the disaster (i.e., terrorist or natural),
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the scalability of the exercise (e.g., the extent to which the exercise
can be scaled up or down to fit other settings),
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the resources needed to implement the exercise (e.g., time, personnel,
etc.),
- the materials we had available to us in our evaluation of the exercise design, and
- contact information for the exercise developer or key exercise contact.
*Please Note: not all exercise developers gave us permission to post their exercise materials on this database. If you are interested in learning more about a particular exercise, please communicate directly with the contact person in the exercise description.
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