An Analytical Review of Disaster Nursing Competencies in Korea: 1995-2013

Abstract

This study was performed to identify the areas of disaster nursing competencies that were examined in previous studies of disasternursing in Korea from 1995 to 2013 and to suggest a direction for further research. Data were retrieved from the Research Infor-mation Sharing Service (RISS) 2.0 and DBpia 6.1. The exclusion criteria were grey literature, non-peer-reviewed, and connected tovictims. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed, written in Korean, primary research papers, and those connected to nurses, nursingstudents, or curriculum. After reviewing 26 full-text articles, ten studies were analyzed by qualitative content analysis to categorizemethodological characteristics and the components of disaster nursing competencies based on the Hyogo Framework of Core Com-petencies Required for Disaster Nursing. The result were shown that various study designs and instruments were included. The frame-works on disaster nursing competencies were not concrete and differed among the research included. Most of the components of thedisaster nursing competencies that were investigated by these studies fell into Category II, which consists of the systematic assess-ment and provision of care, while the competencies in Category III, the category of the provision of care for vulnerable people andtheir families, were relatively neglected. Nurses and nursing students had low to moderate levels of disaster preparedness. Thereviewed studies did not fulfill global perspectives or comprehensively address disaster nursing competencies. Additional studies needto be performed by adopting international frameworks, including the ICN framework, and the Korean framework for disaster nursingcompetencies needs to be developed based on strong theoretical perspectives and strategies.