WEEK 6 EDAPT NOTES NR 442, COMMUNITY HEALTH
NURSING CARE DURING A DISASTER
Which terms are stages in the process of emergency management?
The process
... [Show More] of emergency management includes:
Preparedness
Mitigation/Prevention
Response
Recovery
Planning/Continuity
Training can span across stages, but usually is part of preparedness. Notification may be part of
any of the stages.
Which populations are most likely to be at high risk during a disaster?
All of these populations could be considered vulnerable. Retirement village residents may
include older adults with disabilities or medical needs and who may not be mobile. Prison
inmates are entirely dependent on staff for their needs. English language learners may not
understand advisories or information about preparedness or evacuation. Families on a
ranch may attempt to save their livestock and may not evacuate if needed. Inner-city apartment
dwellers may lack transportation options and may struggle to obtain resources to deal with a
disaster or evacuate.
Nurses can participate in which stages of emergency management?
Nurses can, and do, participate in all stages of emergency management.
What is disaster?
Have you experienced a disaster? To answer that question, you need to know the definition of a
disaster. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(2021):
“A disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community
or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the
community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources. Though often caused by
nature, disasters can have human origins.” (Para. 1)
Think about the elements of this definition. What is a community or a society? A community
could mean a neighborhood, a workplace, a stadium, a city, a region, or what you define it to be.
A community can be a permanent fixture or could be a temporary gathering or grouping of
people.
The definition of a disaster event is just as variable. For example, disasters can include natural
or man-made events, and even a mix of both (think Hurricane Katrina, where the hurricane was
natural, but the levee breach was man-made). Likewise, disasters can be acts of terrorism or
war and involve natural or man-made agents. More frequently, technology is a vector of
disaster, with attacks on facility and government systems and power grids.
What constitutes a disaster f [Show Less]