Abstract
BackgroundAn understanding of nurses’ experiences in disasters can help to identify their problems in this area. These can be overcome with better planning and preparation. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of disaster nurses regarding their provision of disaster health care services.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using an inductive qualitative content analysis. Participants included 15 Iranian nurses who had experiences of health care delivery in disasters. A purposeful sampling was applied until data saturation was reached. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and then analyzed based on the principle of inductive content analysis.ResultsFive main categories emerged from the experiences and perceptions of nurses who were involved in providing health care services in disasters: afraid of probability of recurrence, necessity of providing healthcare services for an unknown period of time, challenge of what to prioritize, nurses’ own conflicting emotions, and their concern for their own families.DiscussionThere are several factors affecting the delivery of healthcare in disasters. Nurses, who feel better prepared and have some understanding of the ethical implications of working under different standards of care, may be more comfortable with care giving in disasters. Appropriately, training and preparing nurses for disasters is important for optimizing the safe functioning and minimizing emotional and psychological damage.
Highlights
Considering that natural disasters compromise social health and welfare, providing affordable health care is one of the main factors influencing survival, reduced mortality, and increased welfare of the people after the occurrence of such incidents[1,2,3]
Five main categories emerged from the experiences and perceptions of nurses who were involved in providing health care services in disasters: afraid of probability of recurrence, necessity of providing healthcare services for an unknown period of time, challenge of what to prioritize, nurses’ own conflicting emotions, and their concern for their own families
Due to uncertainty in a disaster situation, nurses have a lot of stress, which should be reduced; Chang et al (2006) in their study concluded that reduction of workplace stress and increase support for nurses can strengthen their mental health [28]
Summary
Considering that natural disasters compromise social health and welfare, providing affordable health care is one of the main factors influencing survival, reduced mortality, and increased welfare of the people after the occurrence of such incidents[1,2,3]. In such situations, a quick and effective health response is needed beyond the usual emergency response [4,5,6]. An understanding of nurses’ experiences in disasters can help to identify their problems in this area These can be overcome with better planning and preparation. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of disaster nurses regarding their provision of disaster health care services
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