Summary: Effective Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) communication is critical for maintaining situational awareness and ensuring coordinated responses to disasters. Traditional tools, such as radios, phones, email, and, more recently, online platforms like Zoom, often lack the secure, HIPAA-compliant, and streamlined functions needed for complex health care incident management. Microsoft Teams offers a unified platform with document sharing, teleconferencing, real-time messaging, and scheduling capabilities, making it well-suited to support HICS operations. Additionally, given its widespread Health Organization enterprise use, many individuals on health care teams use it on a daily basis for routine care, allowing for a lower threshold for adoption and familiarization. Two recent scenarios highlighted its novel use and demonstrated its effectiveness. First, in a full-scale hospital exercise that activated the High Consequence Pathogen team, including transport, the Emergency Department, inpatient units, the laboratory, environmental services, and local partners, Microsoft Teams served as a virtual command center. Its use enabled rapid dissemination of information, improved communication across departments, and promoted shared situational awareness. Second, during the American Airlines crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in January 2025, Microsoft Teams was employed to activate and coordinate the anticipated ICU disaster response. The platform enabled leaders to quickly connect, allocate resources, including staffing, and maintain real-time updates during a high-acuity event, underscoring its value in real-world emergencies. Key lessons from both experiences include the importance of pre-establishing contact lists, enabling device alerts for timely notifications, and training staff in the use of Microsoft Teams for incident response. Familiarity with the Microsoft platform, combined with its accessibility across desktop and mobile devices, enhances communication efficiency and collaboration. Microsoft Teams proved to be a practical and effective tool for strengthening HICS, with potential for further refinement through health care-specific customization.
Goodwin et al. (Sun,) studied this question.