Abstract
AimsTo explore registered nurses’ experiences as disaster preparedness coordinators of hospital incident command groups’ during a major incident.DesignA qualitative descriptive design using semi‐structured interview.MethodsThis was a qualitative study based on one focus group discussion and six individual follow‐up interviews. Participants were registered nurses in their capacity as disaster preparedness coordinators with experience from Major Incident simulations and a real‐life Major Incident. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. The COREQ checklist was used for reporting the findings.ResultsThe analysis of data generated the main category: Expectations, previous experience and uncertainty affect hospital incident command group response during a Major Incident and three categories, (I) Gaining situational awareness (containing two subcategories), (II) Transitioning to management (containing three subcategories) and (III) Actions taken during uncertainty (containing two subcategories).
Highlights
Major Incidents (MIs) often require urgent medical response to mitigate morbidity and mortality (Kaj et al, 2006)
The participants (n = 6) representing 100% of the study population were all disaster preparedness coordinators (DPCs) at the emergency hospitals who were affected by the MI in 2017 and activated their disaster plan
The exploration of the Registered nurses (RNs)’ experiences as disaster preparedness coordinators’ (DPC) during a Major Incident, resulted in the main category, Expectations, previous experience and uncertainty affect hospital incident command groups (HICGs)’ response during a Major Incident and three categories (I) Gaining situational awareness, (II) Transitioning to management and (III) Actions taken during uncertainty (Figure 1)
Summary
Major Incidents (MIs) often require urgent medical response to mitigate morbidity and mortality (Kaj et al, 2006). Hospital response during an MI is dependent upon several factors, such as organization, disaster plans, training, and incident command structure (Bahrami et al, 2020; Djalali et al, 2013; Ripoll Gallardo et al, 2020). During MIs, hospital incident command groups (HICGs) are activated to provide leadership and strategic decision-making (Djalali et al, 2015; Schultz & Koenig, 2006). Registered nurses holding the position as DPCs in the study setting are essential strategic managerial parts of hospitals’ overall disaster preparedness and response as members of the HICGs (National Board of Health & Welfare, 2013). This study aims to explore registered nurses’ experiences as disaster preparedness coordinators (DPC) of hospital incident command groups during an MI
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