Preparing for hazards means developing skills and gaining knowledge that will allow to allocate less time on decision making in case of emergency. Readiness is a result of training and leads to establishment of certain action patterns that, if memorized well, could save one’s life or potentially the lives of others. Emergency produces lots of stress that obstructs clear thinking process. Humans often act based on instincts or well established codes that through continuous training are executed without additional thought. Nurses as the force that directs and guides patients through clinical procedures have a moral duty to prevent, respond to, and mitigate the consequences of various types of disasters. Therefore, it is vital to know, memorize, and practice all-hazards disaster preparedness. My learning goals included building the knowledge on the role of the nurse in establishing communication during the hazardous situations and peculiarities of operation in low-resource setting.
Meeting the Goals
To meet the first goal, I started from researching sources on communication during hazardous situations. According to the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nursing (“The Role of the Nurse in Emergency Preparedness,” 2012), the role of the nurse is to establish communication between a patient, family, and the team to ensure hopeful expectations are shared by all members of the care process, which is vital in hazardous situations due to panic prevention. This knowledge was then implemented in the clinic where I work. I asked my colleagues to simulate the emergency situation where I could demonstrate my communication skills and assess how well I would manage the task of establishing proper communication and prevent excessive stress. As my colleagues noticed, I was generally successful at my mission but would need to concentrate more on fulfilling my duties during the process of communicating.
The second goal involved consulting with colleagues and scholarly sources as to how to proceed in various situations during crisis events that involve low access to necessary items. In both cases, the information I received revolved around better planning and preparing for hazardous events and memorizing the items I might need in most common cases, their places, and quantity (Spain, Clements, DeRanieri, & Holt, 2012). In practical conditions, it was challenging to model the situation, but I tried gaining hasty access to necessary items such as wound and cut management materials.
Implementation into Practice
Both communication and working in low-resource environment require substantial of practice to be able to fully implement them into practice when they are most needed. This week I have only begun practicing my emergence communication skills and working in low-resource environment. I believe that consistency here is the key because to establish a pattern that requires no contemplation it takes meticulous and continuous repetition. By training those skills for a week, I have established a basis for further training and perfecting my all-hazards preparedness competencies.
Conclusion
A commitment to continuous practicing of all-hazards preparedness seems to benefit me as a future nurse professional. A full acquisition of a hazard prevention, response, and mitigation competencies requires zeal and repletion, which I have begun to demonstrate during this week’s practice. Communication and working in low-resource setting seem like the two skills that are critical in primary care during a disaster. The nurse has to be leading by example, demonstrating courage and finesse in the times of need.
References
Spain, K. M., Clements, P. T., DeRanieri, J. T., & Holt, K. (2012). When Disaster Happens: Emergency Preparedness for Nurse Practitioners. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 8(1), 38–44.
The Role of the Nurse in Emergency Preparedness. (2012). Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 41(2), 322–324.