Using Collaborative Virtual Environments in Preparedness and Emergency Response Planning (formerly PERUSE)

The researchers propose that using a CVE will improve strategies, methods, and outcomes in emergency response for general and vulnerable populations, as well as daily public health practice.

Effective, Efficient Response

Virtual environments like Second Life show great promise in addressing issues like planning and coordination structures for responding to catastrophic events. 

Potential benefits of Collaborative Virtual Environments include:

• Modernization of planning processes, products, and tools
• Improvement of training, education, and development of emergency response planners
• Laying better groundwork for collaborative approaches
• Creating lower cost simulations

This observational study, based on an organizational model, will use pairs of emergency planning groups from local health departments to compare CVE-facilitated exercises to those performed without using the CVE.

Project Relevance

Responses to catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina have shown that improvements to operations plans and planning processes are necessary to create more effective and efficient responses.  The amount of research into CVEs is lacking, and this study addresses that gap.