Large-scale urban disaster drill involving an explosion: lessons learned by an academic medical center.

Disaster drills are an effective way to test a hospital's preparedness for real-life disasters, but an extensive amount of coordination and time is necessary to host a successful drill with a large number of victims. The lessons learned in this drill include a number of planning, education, orientation, and follow-up issues. It is not realistic to believe that a drill can be perfectly planned and practiced; therefore each drill provides another opportunity to improve on past experience.