Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:27:16.498Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prepared to Respond? Exploring Personal Disaster Preparedness and Nursing Staff Response to Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2020

Lavonne M. Adams  and
Joyce Melius
Lavonne M. Adams*
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Fort Worth, Texas
Joyce Melius
Affiliation:
Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, Texas
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Lavonne M. Adams, Texas Christian University Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, TCU Box 298620, Fort Worth, TX76129 (email: [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives:

This pilot study explored personal disaster preparedness of nursing staff and their ability and willingness to respond following a disaster.

Methods:

All nurses from a single hospital were invited to participate; 91 completed an online survey asking them to rate their ability and willingness to report to work following the disaster scenarios and to indicate whether they had pursued various preparedness activities. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using Minitab 17 Statistical Software.

Results:

Participants reflected a cross-section of major acute care units and nursing specialties. The majority of participants indicated being able and willing to report to work following the disaster scenarios. Personal disaster preparedness varied, with few activities pursued by the majority. Few scenarios produced a relationship between preparedness activities and ability or willingness to report to work.

Conclusions:

Despite the majority of participants indicating they would be able and willing to report to work during a disaster, they acknowledged barriers affecting them. Most disaster scenarios showed no statistically significant relationship with preparedness activities. Nurses should consider barriers that affect their own availability for work following a disaster and identify potential solutions. Future research related to mitigation of possible barriers to surge capacity would be useful.

Keywords

disastersdisaster planningpreparednesssurge capacity
Type
Brief Report
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 15 , Issue 5 , October 2021 , pp. 557 - 562
Copyright
© 2020 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Brice, JH, Gregg, D, Sawyer, D, et al. Survey of hospital employees’ personal preparedness and willingness to work following a disaster. Southern Med J. 2017;110:516–522. doi: 10.14423/SMJ0000000000000680CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connor, SB. When and why health care personnel respond to a disaster: the state of the science. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29:270–274. doi: 10.1017/S1049023X14000387CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mercer, MP, Ancock, B, Levis, JT, et al. Ready or not: does household preparedness prevent absenteeism among emergency department staff during a disaster? Am J Disaster Med. 2014;9:221–232. doi: 10.5055/ajdm.2014.0174CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adams, LM, Berry, D. Who will show up? Estimating ability and willingness of essential hospital personnel to report to work in response to a disaster. Online J Issues Nurs. 2012;17(2):8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qureshi, KA, Gershon, RR, Sherman, MF, et al. Health care workers’ ability and willingness to report to duty during catastrophic disasters. J Urban Health. 2005;82:378–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gowing, JR, Walker, KN, Elmer, SL, et al. Disaster preparedness among health professionals and support staff: what is effective? An integrative literature review. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32:321–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Labrague, LJ, Hammad, K, Gloe, DS, et al. Disaster preparedness among nurses: a systematic view of literature. Int Nurs Rev. 2018;65:41–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohn, S, Lipkowitz Eaton, J, Feroz, S, et al. Personal disaster preparedness: An integrative review of the literature. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2012;6:217–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qualtrics software [computer program]. Version December 2015. Provo, UT: Qualtrics. 2014. https://www.qualtrics.com.Google Scholar
Minitab 17 Statistical Software [computer program]. Version 17. State College, PA: Minitab, Inc. 2010. www.minitab.com.Google Scholar
Smith, EC, Burkle, FM, Archer, FL. Fear, familiarity, and the perception of risk: a quantitative analysis of disaster-specific concerns of paramedics. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2011;5:46–53. doi: 10.1001./dmp.10-v4n2-hre10008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed