Review and further development of the Radiological Situation Report as the basis for information and communication in emergency preparedness

Background

In the event of a supra-regional radiological emergency, the Federal Environment Ministry establishes a Federal Radiological Situation Centre (RLZ) in accordance with the Radiation Protection Act (StrlSchG, section 106 and section 108). The tasks of the RLZ include preparing the Radiological Situation Report (RLB), which provides federal, state and civil protection authorities with the basis for assessing and managing a radiological emergency and is used by experts and laypersons alike.

Objective

This project aimed to review and improve the situation report with regard to its usability by a heterogeneous group of recipients including radiological experts and laypersons. At the same time, the project also sought to examine the usability of the information contained in the report for crisis communication by public relations representatives.

The first step in the project was to ascertain the state of knowledge regarding the description of situations in radiological emergencies. This was to be followed by an empirical determination of the usability of the existing RLB (RLBold) and the preparation of an improved RLB (RLBnew) based on the findings and derived recommendations. The effectiveness of this new report was to be tested.

Methods

A mixed research methodology was used to ascertain the state of knowledge at the start of the project. These insights were supplemented by interviews with selected experts. The effectiveness of RLBold was queried by conducting guided interviews with questions relating to

• comprehensibility
• structure
• presentation
• completeness.

The chosen survey participants represented a cross section of the RLB’s user groups, and the application scenario for the RLB in an emergency was reconstructed as realistically as possible.

In a second series of interviews, selected interview partners were surveyed again with regard to RLBnew in order to test the effectiveness of the changes.

Implementation

Empirical determination using guided interviews

The usability of RLBold was determined empirically through guided interviews, all of which were recorded and then transcribed using the transcription software f4transkript. Interview material was analysed using the text analysis software ATLAS.ti 8, which allowed comprehensive processing of the data according to current standards in the social sciences as well as the subsequent analysis and categorisation of interview results based on encoding and evaluation schemes. Lastly, in terms of methodology, Mayring’s method of qualitative content analysis was applied. All interviews were carried out on the basis of a data protection concept that covered the processing and protection of personal data and interview content.

Implementation of findings into new situation report

In the next step, the findings and recommendations derived from the previous work packages were prioritised and implemented into RLBnew with the help of templates and by building upon the defined technological foundation.

A test situational report prepared based on RLBnew provided the basis for the subsequent review of the effectiveness of the proposed changes, abridgements and additions.

Review of situation report variant

Both versions of the situation report (RLBold and RLBnew) were then presented to the survey participants in order to allow in-depth comparison. The aim was to review the changes with regard to comprehensibility, usability and general satisfaction and, if necessary, to collect other important indications of where improvements could be made. In the second round of interviews, participants were lastly also asked about their overall satisfaction with RLBnew.

All interviews were recorded, transcribed, encoded and evaluated using the same methods and tools as were used to determine the applicability of RLBold.

Following a further revision of RLBnew, the new version was tested once again at a one-day planning meeting involving representatives of the federal government and federal states. Lastly, the results were analysed and discussed, and any final changes were derived for RLBnew.

Results

State of the art in science and technology

The literature search revealed that there has so far been no systematic, scientific investigation of the effectiveness of a tool as specific as a radiological situation report. However, it was possible to obtain valuable insights from the various forms of literature on operational/tactical situation reports and relevant aspects such as the effective presentation of textual and graphical information, maps, colour perception, and risk and crisis communication.

Accordingly, guidelines and grey literature from institutions and organisations that deal explicitly with the management of radiological emergencies were all the more helpful. In particular, these bodies include the German Commission on Radiological Protection (SSK), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The interviews with experts proved to be particularly informative thanks to their experiences in dealing with information in stressful situations, with situation reports in general, and with radiological situation reports in particular.

Overall, the literature search revealed that there are indeed potential starting points for the optimisation of RLBold, and these allowed the preparation of a first draft of RLBnew

Empirical research

The first series of interviews revealed a very high level of overall satisfaction with RLBold. In particular, radiological experts with long-standing experience of dealing with the situation report proved to be very satisfied, particularly with the structure of the report. Nevertheless, the research identified significant potential for improvement. Radiological laypersons – and, in particular, public relations representatives – were highly critical of the poor comprehensibility of the information presented in RLBold. As well as the use of specialist technical vocabulary, abbreviations and units, the reasons given for this included the lack of a general overview that would give users without in-depth radiological knowledge a quick impression of the situation.

Radiological Situation Report: combining tried-and-tested elements with new innovations

The discrepancy between a high level of satisfaction on the one hand and a significant need for improvement on the other led the project team to derive the principle of combining tried-and-tested elements with new innovations in RLBnew. The second round of interviews demonstrated the success of this approach, with respondents expressing a high level of satisfaction with the optimisations and with RLBnew in general.

By maintaining tried-and-tested elements from RLBold, it was possible to achieve acceptance of innovations even among users who did not believe major changes were needed in the first place. This was also aided by the understanding on the part of virtually all respondents that the RLB must meet the needs of a very heterogeneous circle of users.

The final planning meeting yielded only a few potential improvements, which were ultimately incorporated into the final design proposal. Based on an example scenario, this proposal demonstrated the potential for improving the structure, content, presentation and comprehensibility of RLBold and provided a template for RLBnew.