1100NRS - Disaster Nursing: Role, Competencies, and Code of Practice

This essay explores the critical role of disaster nurses, highlighting the differences between disaster nursing and regular nursing care. It reviews literature on disaster preparedness competencies, focusing on communication, ethics, safety, planning, and the Incident Command System. The essay evaluates the skills and competencies required during disaster conditions, emphasizing the importance of disaster drills and training. It also discusses the ICN framework for disaster nursing competencies, including prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, while addressing barriers to policy implementation such as education and language. The conclusion emphasizes the increasing importance of disaster nurses and the need for proper skills and knowledge to provide better patient care in hospital settings, advocating for the ICN framework in policy development.

Running head: DISASTER NURSING
Disaster Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Disaster nursing is a one of the crucial roles played by the nurses as the nurses have
to play a central role in disaster management and preparedness and in addition they have to
take initiatives during emergency condition of a country. It is quite evident that, the concept
of disaster nursing is quite different from the day to day regular nursing care. In recent time,
it is observed that the number of disasters has enhanced and due to this, the role of disaster
nurses has become very crucial (Turale, 2017). In this essay, the importance of disaster
nurses and their impact on the health care settings, code of practice of disaster nurses are
described in this essay.
Review of Literature
During the time of disasters, it is very essential for the health care professionals to be
prepare for the adverse condition and they should prepare for all time as disaster may happen
any time. In the systematic review study of Jose and Dufrene (2014), the authors tried to find
the suitable disaster preparedness competencies for the under graduate students and
simultaneously tried to find the proper way of giving instruction about the disaster
preparedness. In this study, eight articles were reviewed. The study result showed that, no
educational methods were found to be better for educational objectives related to disaster
preparedness and more rigorous study is required. On the other hand, the study of Al
Thobaity, Plummer and Williams (2017), investigated the most common domains of core
competencies of disaster nursing. A literature search was conducted to find the literatures and
12 studies met the inclusion criteria of the study. The study result found that, the most
common domains of disaster nursing were associated with the communication, ethics,
decontamination and safety, planning and the Incident Command System. The study
concluded that, the knowledge regarding the identified domains are crucial for the disaster

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nurses and in addition to this, disaster drills, planning and provision training will make the
nurses more efficient for the disaster condition (Al Thobaity, Plummer & Williams, 2017).
The study of Loke, Wai and Fung (2014), tried to explore the perceptions of competencies
needed for disaster nursing of Hong Kong Nurses. In this study, 15 nurses participated in the
interview and 30 nurses participated in the written inquiry regarding their perceived
competencies associated with the disaster nursing. The study result showed that nurses were
not at all aware about their roles in preparing the communities during the disaster condition
and there is actual need to train the nurses with proper knowledge regarding the disaster
nursing . Therefore the study reported that, the most common neglected domain of the
disaster nursing was preparation of the health care staffs in preventing disasters. The study of
Sangkala and Gredtz (2018) also supported the previous findings. In this current study 214
CHN coordinators were included and Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tools (DPET) was
used to determine the recent levels of disaster preparedness among the CHN coordinators.
The study result found that, almost 6.5% of coordinators had weak knowledge, 84.6% had
moderate knowledge and 8.9% had strong knowledge regarding the disaster preparedness
(Sangkala & Gredtz, 2018). Although the disaster preparedness knowledge of the
coordinators in the South Sulawesi province Indonesia were moderate, still specific learning
need in community levels is present. The study of Labrague et al. (2017), investigated the
preparedness of the nurses against disaster through a systematic literature review. 17 articles
were selected finally for the systematic review process and the study result showed that, there
are a few factors that can affect the preparedness of the nurses. For example it can be said
that, the previous disaster response experience, disaster training can affect the disaster
nursing actions. Therefore, it is reported that, the nurses were not prepared at all for the
disaster condition and they are not confident for responding during the disaster condition.

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Evaluation
During the disaster condition the nurses should show immense skills and
competencies related to the disaster management knowledge. The study of Achora and
Kamanyire (2016), showed the importance of disaster preparedness of the nurses during the
disaster condition as they are the primary care giver during any disaster condition. The study
showed that, due to increased numbers of global disasters , the role of nurses has become
very crucial it is reported that, the lack of adequate knowledge among the nurses would
greatly affect the process of disaster management. In order to provide an adequate support to
the disaster victims, the nursing care providers should contribute in this process in a positive
way (Achora & Kamanyire, 2016). They should be very confident during providing care to
the disaster victims. The study of Rivera-Rodriguez (2017), suggested the crucial role of the
nurses in managing the disaster condition. It is reported that, the lack of proper knowledge
will hamper the care process of the disaster victims. According to the study of Parizi et al.
(2015), reported that, in order to provide a safe care environment to the patients, the nursing
vcare providers should use their previous experience so that they can deliver a good quality
care to the patients. According to the study of Turale (2014), it is reported that, the most of
the disaster management quality of the nurses were gained from the actual drills of disaster
management. On the other hand the study of Tzeng et al. (2016), found that, the nurses could
provide the best care during the disaster condition if they have disaster training previously
and such training will also help those nurses to be prepare for those condition as well. In
addition to this, the findings of Oztekin et al. (2016) also reported that, the regular
emergency or disaster drills will make the nurses more competent in handling the disaster
situation. In addition to this, a few studies also reported that the training provided to the
nurses will help the nurses to provide a safe care environment to the patients in a disaster

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condition. So, it can be said that proper of training of nurses will help them to provide a safe
care environment to the patients.
Code of Practice
As per the ICN framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies, during the
developmental process of policies, a few factors such as prevention, preparedness, response
and recovery should be considered. In addition to this, the role of the government and other
organization should be identified. Not only should this, but the needs of the vulnerable
population be considered in the policy in a priority basis. During the implementation of the
policy, the education regarding the preparedness of disaster condition can act as a barrier in
the way of implementation. On the other hand, the language can be another important barrier
in the way of policy implementation (World Health Organization, 2009). So, it can be said
that, a wide variety of communication tools can be used to reduce this barrier among the
disaster nurses.
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that, due to increasing numbers of disasters in various
part of this world, the importance of disaster nurses are also enhancing day by day. So, it is
very important for the nurses to have proper skills and knowledge regarding the disaster
nursing so that they can provide better care to the patients in the hospital settings. However,
in order to make a well policy regarding disaster management, the policy of the ICN
framework can be followed. However, there are a few barriers that can hinder the
implementation process of those policies.

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References
Achora, S., & Kamanyire, J. K. (2016). Disaster Preparedness: Need for inclusion in
undergraduate nursing education. Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 16(1), e15.
Al Thobaity, A., Plummer, V., & Williams, B. (2017). What are the most common domains
of the core competencies of disaster nursing? A scoping review. International
Emergency Nursing, 31, 64-71.
Jose, M. M., & Dufrene, C. (2014). Educational competencies and technologies for disaster
preparedness in undergraduate nursing education: An integrative review. Nurse
Education Today, 34(4), 543-551.
Labrague, L.J., Hammad, K., Gloe, D.S., McEnroe-Petitte, D., M., Fronda, D., C., Obeidat,
A., A., Leocadio, M., C. (2017). Disaster preparedness among nurses: a systematic
review of literature. International Nursing Review.
Loke, A. Y., & Fung, O. W. M. (2014). Nurses' competencies in disaster nursing:
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Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(3), 3289-3303.
Oztekin, S.D., Larson, E.E., Akahoshi, M. & € Oztekin, € _ I. (2016) Japanese nurses’
perception of their preparedness for disasters: quantitative survey research on one
prefecture in Japan. Japan Journal of Nursing Science, 13 (3), 391–401
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of Health Sciences. Retrieved from-
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/190d/a31c6fe30ef721e9d6c5b7edf65678f8ef0f.pdf

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