Disaster Nursing Research Articles

Development of a Course on Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Preparation for the Impact of Climate Change.

The effects of climate change are far-reaching and multifactorial, with potential impacts on food security and conflict. Large population movements, whether from the aftermath of natural disasters or resulting from conflict, can precipitate the need for humanitarian response in what can become complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs). Nurses need to be prepared to respond to affected communities in need, whether the emergency is domestic or global. The purpose of the article is to describe a novel course for nursing students interested in practice within the confines of CHEs and natural disasters. The authors used the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards as a practical framework to inform the course development. They completed a review of the literature on the interaction on climate change, conflict and health, and competencies related to working CHEs. Resettled refugees, as well as experts in the area of humanitarian response, recovery, and mitigation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and nongovernmental organizations further informed the development of the course. This course prepares the nursing workforce to respond appropriately to large population movements that may arise from the aftermath of natural disasters or conflict, both of which can comprise a complex humanitarian disaster. Using The Sphere Project e-learning course, students learn about the Sphere Project, which works to ensure accountability and quality in humanitarian response and offers core minimal standards for technical assistance. These guidelines are seen globally as the gold standard for humanitarian response and address many of the competencies for disaster nursing (http://www.sphereproject.org/learning/e-learning-course/).

Call to Action: The Case for Advancing Disaster Nursing Education in the United States.

Climate change, human conflict, and emerging infectious diseases are inexorable actors in our rapidly evolving healthcare landscape that are triggering an ever-increasing number of disaster events. A global nursing workforce is needed that possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities to respond to any disaster or large-scale public health emergency in a timely and appropriate manner. The purpose of this article is to articulate a compelling mandate for the advancement of disaster nursing education within the United States with clear action steps in order to contribute to the achievement of this vision. A national panel of invited disaster nursing experts was convened through a series of monthly semistructured conference calls to work collectively towards the achievement of a national agenda for the future of disaster nursing education. National nursing education experts have developed consensus recommendations for the advancement of disaster nursing education in the United States. This article proposes next steps and action items to achieve the desired vision of national nurse readiness. Novel action steps for expanding disaster educational opportunities across the continuum of nursing are proposed in response to the current compelling need to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of disasters on human health. U.S. educational institutions and health and human service organizations that employ nurses must commit to increasing access to a variety of quality disaster-related educational programs for nurses and nurse leaders. Opportunities exist to strengthen disaster readiness and enhance national health security by expanding educational programming and training for nurses.

Nurse in limbo: A qualitative study of nursing in disasters in Iranian context.

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.

Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing: Exploring the Path to Excellence.

Major disasters occurring within the Unites States require nursing participation as a component of a successful response. Disaster nursing includes the care of populations affected by disasters, public health emergencies, and mass casualty events, both natural and man-made. A unique knowledge base, abilities, and skills are needed to respond appropriately to health care and human service needs resulting from these events. Despite prior efforts to advance disaster nursing as a specialty, none were sustainable and a professional framework for establishing standards and guidelines remains lacking. Disaster nursing is a complex arena where the intersection of competence, scope of practice, regulation, and clinical guidelines continues to evolve. Professional credibility and our contribution to disaster response lie in our ability to articulate and advance professionalism. Disaster nursing as a specialty practice requires a similar foundational framework to nursing specialties recognized by the American Nurses Association within a model of professional practice in order to ensure population outcomes that are reflective of safe, quality, evidence-based practice. It is time to define a disaster nursing scope of practice, establish standards for care, identify best practices, and pursue the establishment of an independent professional organization within the field of disaster nursing. This will establish the necessary foundation for optimizing nursing's contribution to and support of the National Health Security Strategy. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:641-646).

The Effects of Disaster Awareness, Attitude, and Preparedness on the Basic Competencies of the Disaster Nursing Among the Nursing Students

The Effects of Disaster Awareness, Attitude, and Preparedness on the Basic Competencies of the Disaster Nursing Among the Nursing Students

Progress in studies on disaster prevention training in disaster nursing

This paper introduces the development and status quo of disaster prevention training at home and abroad, analyzes the necessity and importance disaster prevention simulation, and summarizes the ways to foster critical thinking and disaster prevention capabilities in disaster prevention training as well as the simulation model of disaster prevention training in lab. It provides scientific guidance for future disaster education and rescue activities so as to ensure the affected people can evacuate safely when disasters occur, thus reducing causalities and the wound and deformity rate. Key words: Review; Disaster nursing; Disaster prevention training

Progress on a Call to Action: Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response.

This article provides an update on the progress of the "Call to Action: Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response." A steering committee, initiated, directed, and supported by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, has undertaken the work of bringing together subject matter experts to develop a vision for the future of disaster nursing. The ultimate goal is to ensure that every nurse is a prepared nurse. As one result of this work, the Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing has held its inaugural meeting in December 2016.

The Need to Increase Disaster Nursing Education in the Undergraduate Curriculum

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Nurse Participation in Continuing Education in Disaster Nursing in Taiwan

The country of Taiwan is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. A global risk analysis of natural disaster hot spots identified Taiwan as the number one country with the greatest risk of exposure to at least 4 natural disasters, and it ranks among the top 10 countries at relatively high mortality risk from multiple hazards as well.1 In the past 2 decades alone, the country has experienced a number of devastating disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods, infectious diseases outbreaks, and aircraft accidents.

Disaster preparedness among nurses: a systematic review of literature.

This review explored peer-reviewed publications that measure nurses' preparedness for disaster response. The increasing frequency of disasters worldwide necessitates nurses to adequately prepare to respond to disasters to mitigate the negative consequences of the event on the affected population. Despite growing initiatives to prepare nurses for any disasters, evidence suggests they are under prepared for disaster response. This is a systematic review of scientific articles conducted from 2006 to 2016 on nurses' preparedness for disasters. SCOPUS, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL and PsychINFO were the primary databases utilized for search of literature. Keywords used in this review were as follows: 'emergency', 'disaster', 'disaster preparedness', 'disaster competencies', 'disaster nursing', 'disaster role' and 'nurse'. Seventeen (17) articles were selected for this review. Factors that increase preparedness for disaster response include previous disaster response experience and disaster-related training. However, it is widely reported that nurses are insufficiently prepared and do not feel confident responding effectively to disasters. The findings of this review contribute to a growing body of knowledge regarding disaster preparedness in nurses and have implications for academia, hospital administration and nursing educators. The findings of this review provide evidence that could be used by nurse educators and nurse administrators to better prepare nurses for disaster response. The findings from this review place an emphasis on hospitals to implement policies to address lack of preparedness among their employees. Furthermore, this review highlights the benefit of further research and provision of well-grounded disaster exercises that mimic actual events to enhance the preparedness of the nursing workforce.

Challenges of Female Nurses in Disasters: A Qualitative Study

Challenges of Female Nurses in Disasters: A Qualitative Study

Simulating Complex Community Disaster Preparedness: Collaboration for Point of Distribution

Disasters are increasing at local, national, and global levels, as is the need for all nurses and communities to be prepared. Since 2003, decreased funds for disaster preparedness has meant less opportunity for public health departments and emergency management agencies to test disaster response plans. Today’s graduating nurses need strong skills in disaster nursing to manage a variety of disasters in a local to global context. One aim of this article is to briefly describe preparedness planning using a Point of Distribution/Dispensation (POD) and teaching competencies for disaster nursing. We discuss in detail an exemplar about a simulation developed with collaboration among university faculty, the county public health department, and the local emergency management agency (EMA). The article considers insufficient funds for drills and exercises; strategies to increase disaster knowledge and competency of undergraduate nursing students; and realistic, hands-on active learning approaches to disaster response at all levels, including implications for practice.

Perception and Core Competencies of Disaster Nursing in South Korea

Background: A descriptive correlational study was conducted to investigate the disaster-related experience, perception, and core competency of nurses in South Korea. Methods: Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire given to 163 nurses working in tertiary hospitals in Seoul, Korea. The questionnaire was developed based on the frame of Disaster Nursing Competencies by International Council of Nurses (ICN) and Emergency Preparedness Questionnaire (EPIQ). Results: In a 5-point scale, the awareness of nurses for disaster events, and the importance of education for disaster nursing were 3.93 ± 0.91 and 3.63 ± 0.93, respectively. Among ICN core competencies on perceived importance in disaster nursing, “Risk reduction, disease prevention and health promotion and psychological care” was scored highest, whereas “Policy development and planning, communication and information sharing” was the lowest. The higher level of awareness of a disaster was related to the higher level of perceived importance of education. Conclusion: The results support that the level of awareness of a disaster is a factor affecting the importance of education in disaster nursing. Thus, educational programs focusing on practical topics in disaster nursing should be developed for continuous training to increase the core competency and the understanding of disaster nursing.

The Effect and Problem of Disaster Nursing Education Method in Basic Nursing Education

The Effect and Problem of Disaster Nursing Education Method in Basic Nursing Education

Teaching Disaster Nursing in the Online Environment

Teaching Disaster Nursing in the Online Environment

Development of the Disaster Nursing Preparedness·Response Competency(DNPRC) Scale in terms of Convergence

Development of the Disaster Nursing Preparedness·Response Competency(DNPRC) Scale in terms of Convergence

Research status of "knowledge, attitude and practice" in disaster nursing home and abroad

This paper reviewed the current status of disaster nursing, the cognition of disaster nursing and knowledge, attitude and in disaster nursing, by referring to the literatures on disaster nursing home and abroad in recent years, so as to improve nurses′ awareness of disaster nursing in our country, and provide a theoretical basis for the development of disaster nursing measures. Key words: Review; Disasters; Disaster nursing; Knowledge, attitude and practice

Research progress in disaster nursing competency framework of nurses in China

Abstract All types of frequent natural disasters, which seriously threaten the safety of human life and property, have become a great challenge all over the world. The dangerous and changeable environment in emergency rescue demands higher requirements for competency of the nurses who respond to a disaster. Disaster nursing combines medical science, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines; thus, it has become a comprehensive interdisciplinary branch of nursing. Disaster nursing has just recently been introduced to our country and is still in the stage of exploration. Nurses comprise the largest rescue force on disaster relief teams; therefore, disaster nursing competency is influential on the disaster response and recovery of victims after a disaster. Thus, this paper defines the concepts and elements of disaster nursing, including disaster nursing skill requirements and architectural framework. It will provide an important contribution to improving the overall level and comprehensive quality of disaster nursing competency of nurses in China.

The Need for a Definition of Big Data for Nursing Science: A Case Study of Disaster Preparedness.

The rapid development of technology has made enormous volumes of data available and achievable anytime and anywhere around the world. Data scientists call this change a data era and have introduced the term “Big Data”, which has drawn the attention of nursing scholars. Nevertheless, the concept of Big Data is quite fuzzy and there is no agreement on its definition among researchers of different disciplines. Without a clear consensus on this issue, nursing scholars who are relatively new to the concept may consider Big Data to be merely a dataset of a bigger size. Having a suitable definition for nurse researchers in their context of research and practice is essential for the advancement of nursing research. In view of the need for a better understanding on what Big Data is, the aim in this paper is to explore and discuss the concept. Furthermore, an example of a Big Data research study on disaster nursing preparedness involving six million patient records is used for discussion. The example demonstrates that a Big Data analysis can be conducted from many more perspectives than would be possible in traditional sampling, and is superior to traditional sampling. Experience gained from the process of using Big Data in this study will shed light on future opportunities for conducting evidence-based nursing research to achieve competence in disaster nursing.

David R. Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, CENP, NEA-BC

David R. Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, CENP, NEA-BC, is vice president and chief nursing & patient care services officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas.