Introduction
In the same way, as people recognize New York under the moniker “The Big Apple”, upon hearing the appealing and optimistic nickname “The Sunshine State” people instantly think back to the state of Florida. However, too many people living in the state and Miami in particular, the name carries an ironic meaning as well.
The Sunshine State is regularly ravaged by a wide variety of natural disasters, which rarely leave the state’s economy, residents, and visitors from all over the US unscathed (Florida Natural Disaster Preparedness, n.d.).
The focus of this paper is the threat of hurricanes in the city of Miami, and an assessment of the emergency preparedness and disaster response among health care practitioners and nurses in particular.
The Disaster and its Analysis
Hurricanes are defined as large storm systems that start in the ocean and move towards the land, carrying the threat of strong, damaging winds, massive rainfalls, and the resultant floods, storm surges. Collectively, all of these factors can result in large numbers of both human and animal lives lost, numerous injuries of various levels of severity, the spread of disease, and massive damage to the city’s property and infrastructure, including disruptions’ of communication, power and transportation (How To Prepare For a Hurricane, n.d.).
The recent study by RealtyTrac, an housing data company, reaffirmed Florida as the state with the highest number of hurricanes encounters, as well as the second-highest for overall natural disaster risk (Chaney 2015). In 1992, Miami was the target of the strongest and most damaging storms in the history of America. The storm, Hurricane Andrew, is the perfect example of the potential damage of such a disaster. However, it is also an example of how effective emergency responses can save lives, with the hurricane causing less than 50 deaths as a result of emergency measures (Florida Hurricane History, n.d.).
Health Care Practitioners in a Disaster
Professional Nursing Care during a Disaster
Miami invests heavily in disaster emergency management and the creation of community routines which increase their preparedness and help the citizens tackle the danger of disasters.
Professional nurses are required to possess skills that can be vital during different stages of disaster response. Their clinical judgment and decision-making skills can be very useful for analysis of the Miami community’s vulnerabilities before the hurricane during the “nondisaster” stage, which can allow relevant plans and policies to be developed, as well as training procedures to prepare the population. The developments of this stage are pivotal during the “predisaster” stage when the hurricane is already moving it and the threat is imminent. This stage also allows the nursing staff to show their organizational skills by organizing the people, providing a public warning, and enabling prompt evacuation.
The skills of the nurses are of utmost importance after the hurricane when they have to provide quick and effective patient-centered care to people injured in the disaster, often in unfavorable conditions with scarce recourses (Stanley, Cole, McGill, Millet, & Morse, 2013). As the experience of Hurricane Katrina showed, such an emergency forces nurses to take on functions above and beyond their role in patient care, forcing them to organize and coordinate activities, food and medicine allocation, maintain effective teamwork, creativity, and assertiveness (Danna, Bernard, Schaubhut, & Mathews, 2010).
Other Health Care Professionals Involved in a Disaster
During a hurricane, public health practitioners are required to coordinate patient care efforts with health providers and other stakeholders involved in the emergency response. They are responsible for medical management and patient advisement, as well as maintenance of medical records to avoid mix-ups and confusion that can endanger the patient’s health and make the job harder for their colleagues.
Finally, during an emergency, physicians of various fields share a lot of organizational responsibilities with the nursing staff, supporting aid-and-rescue efforts by other emergency services, and providing top-quality service to the patients even under stress.
Strategies for Improving Community Response to a Disaster
Due to the danger of hurricanes, citizens of Miami need to be able to evacuate quickly and in an orderly manner. The population needs to be diligently educated about the proper behavior before and during the hurricane, as well as how to avoid accompanying dangers, such as seeking higher ground to avoid flooding. Secondly, the population needs to take measures to reinforce their housings and property.
It is the responsibility of the state officials and emergency workers (including health care practitioners) to provide the population with easy-to-access guides, regulations, and advice on how to best prepare for a disaster. In particular, the effect can be improved if better communication methods are developed to swiftly inform emergency services about the nature and level of danger. The collective input of all these services is required to develop contingencies that will successfully use all available skills and will account for all factors, including seasonal weather patterns, the time of the day, and other effects that may affect the outcome of the emergency (How to Prepare for a Hurricane, n.d.).
Conclusion
Health Care practitioners play a very important role in hurricane preparation initiatives and disaster response. Their skills are vital both for the protection and preservation of human life and well-being in their direct line of work, as well as in organizational matters.
References
Chaney, E. (2015). New Study Ranks Florida Second For Natural Disaster Risk. Web.
Danna, D., Bernard, M., Schaubhut, R., & Mathews, P. (2010). Experiences of nurse leaders surviving Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Nursing & Health Sciences, 12(1), 9-13. Web.
Florida Hurricane History. (n.d.). Web.
Florida Natural Disaster Preparedness. (n.d.). Web.
How To Prepare For a Hurricane. (n.d.). Web.
Stanley, S. A., Cole, S., McGill, J., Millet, C., & Morse, D. (2013). The Role of the Public Health Nurse In Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Association of Public Health Nurses. Web.