NACCHO’s Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise Template

NACCHO's Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise Template was developed and tested by local health officials to help local health departments design and conduct discussion-based tabletops exercises of pandemic influenza response functions. The template is a simple guide to creating a tabletop exercise that can be easily adjusted to meet the needs of exercise planners. The template includes objectives, points of review, local events and discussion questions for three pandemic response functions (business continuity, epidemiology, and surveillance), and community containment. These functions may be tested independently or together depending on the scope of the exercise.

This template is objective driven rather than scenario focused; its objectives test specific elements of a local pandemic influenza plan. The suggested scenarios facilitate the testing process. The template may be used in coordination with the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) toolkit to develop, conduct, and evaluate HSEEP-compliant pandemic influenza exercises.

This free exercise tool includes the following components:

1. User's Guide
2. Scenario Objective Worksheet
3. Microsoft PowerPoint Template
4. Exercise Evaluation Forms

The template provides the fundamental elements of a discussion-based exercise for testing components of a pandemic influenza response plan, but it does not include supporting elements such as facilitation guidelines, controller and evaluator instructions, logistical checklists, and planning timelines. Those and other resources can be found in the HSEEP toolkit.

Click on the following links for more information about HSEEP: HSEEP 101.