The following is a summary of an article shared with the Coalition by Connie Harig of DCI, Inc. The original article is attached below for readers who would like to explore the topic in greater detail.
For patients who depend on dialysis several times a week, emergencies such as hurricanes, power outages, transportation disruptions, and equipment failures can quickly become life-threatening. The article explains how dialysis-specific tabletop exercises can help healthcare teams prepare for these disruptions while protecting patient safety and continuity of care.
The article follows an outpatient dialysis team through a simulated Category 5 hurricane. As the storm changed direction and intensified, participants had less than 48 hours to coordinate their response. Leaders from nursing, clinical care, operations, facilities, emergency management, and administration worked together to prioritize treatments, communicate with patients and staff, manage supplies, address transportation needs, assess infrastructure, and plan for recovery.
Unlike passive training, tabletop exercises allow teams to test emergency procedures in a realistic but low-risk environment. The hurricane exercise clarified responsibilities, strengthened interdisciplinary communication, and revealed practical gaps involving emergency contacts, backup communications, generator readiness, patient transportation, staffing, medication access, and alternative treatment locations. These findings were converted into assigned action items and monitored through the facility’s quality-improvement program.
The benefits became especially clear several months later, when a suspected gas odor required the dialysis unit to evacuate patients. Staff responded calmly, communicated efficiently, and carried out their roles with confidence. The experience demonstrates that emergency plans are most effective when teams actively rehearse them, evaluate their performance, and apply what they learn to future responses.
Ultimately, dialysis-specific tabletop exercises help transform written emergency procedures into coordinated action. By practicing realistic scenarios, organizations can build trust, expose vulnerabilities, strengthen operational resilience, and better protect patients when a real emergency occurs.
This summary is based on “From Scenario to Reality: How Tabletop Exercises Transformed Emergency Management in Outpatient Dialysis Care,” by Faith Lynch and Samantha Moorehead, published in the January–February 2026 issue of the Nephrology Nursing Journal. The original article, shared with the Coalition by Connie Harig of DCI, Inc., is attached below.
Read the original article here: How Table Top Exercises Transformed Emergency Management