Psych CASC / OSCE · Public-community — disaster and mass casualty psychiatry
Evacuation centre survivor after bushfire — CASC communication station
MRCPsych/FRANZCP-style CASC: trauma-informed disaster assessment, Hobfoll/PFA framing, risk, and collaborative stepped plan.
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Study tools
Target exams
Station brief
Format. Communication station, approximately 7–10 minutes active time after reading. You are the psychiatry registrar attached to the evacuation centre mental health team. Privacy is limited; negotiate a quieter corner. [4]
Candidate instructions. Build rapport. Assess suicide risk. Map exposure and current practical needs. Normalise early distress without dismissing severe symptoms. Explain PFA-style support and that not everyone needs specialist trauma therapy immediately. Do not force a full graphic narrative. Do not offer mandatory group debriefing as prevention. Agree a collaborative safety and follow-up plan. [1][2][3]
References5ShowHide
- [1]Hobfoll SE, Watson P, Bell CC, et al. Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma intervention: empirical evidence Psychiatry, 2007.PMID 18181708
- [2]Rose S, Bisson J, Churchill R, Wessely S Psychological debriefing for preventing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2002.PMID 12076399
- [3]Forbes D, Lewis V, Varker T, et al. Psychological first aid following trauma: implementation and evaluation framework for high-risk organizations Psychiatry, 2011.PMID 21916629
- [4]North CS, Pfefferbaum B Mental health response to community disasters: a systematic review JAMA, 2013.PMID 23925621
- [5]Brady K, Pearlstein T, Asnis GM, Baker D, et al. Efficacy and safety of sertraline treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial JAMA, 2000.PMID 10770145