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Education & preparedness
Tabletop MCI exercises: how they're run and measured
Design, Facilitation, and Evaluation of Tabletop Exercises for Prehospital Mass Casualty Preparedness: Scoping Review
Interactive Journal of Medical Research · 2026-10-05 · Added 6 October 2026
Scoping review of 13 studies from 9 countries on tabletop exercises for prehospital mass casualty preparedness — it built a preliminary three-tier 'TTX Design Spectrum' typology and classified outcomes with the Kirkpatrick model (plus an applied-learning level), finding evaluation focused on participant learning with less assessment of applied performance or system outcomes.
- Study type
- Scoping review
- Design
- Scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) of prehospital MCI tabletop exercises 2015–2026, outcomes classified by Kirkpatrick model
- Participants
- 13 studies from 9 countries
- Main finding
- A preliminary three-tier 'TTX Design Spectrum' typology; most evaluation sat at Kirkpatrick levels 1–2 (participant learning), with an added level 2+ (applied learning) category — little assessment of applied performance or system outcomes
- Caveat
- Scoping review of a small, heterogeneous literature; no outcome-effectiveness conclusions possible
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). tabletop exercises are standard MCI preparedness across Australian services, so the design-and-evaluation framing is useful for anyone running them — but it won't change road practice
Learning goal
Understand how exercise design and evaluation depth shape prehospital mass casualty preparedness in Australian services.
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- Topic: Education & preparedness
- Daily scan: 6 October 2026