The role of the major public health personnel, including the public health nurse, involved in the disaster
As soon as a disaster strikes, public health personnel and public health nurses should report to their stations and assume their various roles. Floods can be foreseen several days or hours before they take place. The major role is to assess the situation and form a public health incident commander system (PHICS). This team consists of an incident commander, public information officer, liaison officer, operations chief, planning chief, logistic officer, and finance officer.
This committee must conduct rescue operations, manage water and sanitation, transport, and shelter of the affected persons. After these immediate needs, the team must focus on managing communication and information, health, sanitation, public works, water supply, food, and maintaining public order.
A public health nurse (PHN) is critical in emergencies (Cox and Briggs, 2004). PHNs must focus on critical areas of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery as they collaborate with other members of PHICS. PHNs roles cut across in areas of “prevention, planning, response, recovery, drills, exercises, and training” (Jakeway, LaRosa, Cary, Schoenfisch, and Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing, 2008). Overall, the roles of PHNs may vary based on a given disaster, and PHNs may take roles outside their scope of work.
The chain of command used in the simulation for the community health nurse
The chain of command enhances public confidence and provides an assurance that the team has the right people, who are familiar with the situation and inter-agency response and coordination processes. The chain of command also ensures that the system will still function even if others respond to the disaster. The number and kind of departments required to depend on the nature and extent of the emergency. In the simulation, there was an incident commander, public information officer, liaison officer, operations chief, planning chief, logistic officer, and finance officer (Qureshi, Gebbie and Gebbie, 2006).
The resources available to the community health nurse to deal with situations outside the nurse’s scope of practice
In an emergency, the community health nurses must perform their roles in stress and sub-optimal conditions. However, the community health nurses must rely on their unique skills to allow them to be extremely efficient in disaster situations, inter-agency collaboration, and demonstrate strong commitments to public welfare (Cox and Briggs, 2004). Hence, community health nurses need these skills to counter inadequate resources in emergencies.
Actions are taken by the community health nurse when encountered with possible emergencies during the door-to-door interviews
In case of an emergency, the community nurse normally conducts door-to-door visits to assess the condition of the community. Residents must respond to their situations with regard to injuries, illnesses, adequate supply of food, water, and even utilities. However, community nurses may encounter emergencies related to the flood’s aftermath, such as psychological stress, illnesses, and other unmet needs. Community nurses must respond immediately by keeping the log of the situation and referring the required health personnel to assist people to manage the emergency.
Actions are taken by the community health nurse to help the people who were interviewed cope with the situations after the flooding
In the event of a disaster, the community health nurse must be alert and active, reassure people, and develop effective methods that allow the community to refer their cases. This is a form of providing positive psychological and emotional support for the affected populations. The community nurse must provide high-quality service to people interviewed so that they can cope with the flood.
The community nurse must address the health concerns, material, social, and cultural concerns of the community. The nurse must be versatile and account for all factors that may have negative consequences on the people interviewed during the flood.
The community nurse should focus on priorities, which require immediate and direct action to manage health and material concerns. In addition, the nurse must also identify real and accessible resources that people need to cope with the flood. In this respect, the community nurse must understand other resources needed and perform their roles too.
The community nurse must ensure that communication is effective and meaningful. People may require information on emergency relief supplies, family reunions, and analysis of their needs and resources. An effective method of managing the flow of communication will allow people to cope with the flood effectively. This requires putting useful information into communication channels and eliminating fears and negative rumors. This would enhance community participation in the recovery process. Coping with the flood requires active coordination with rescue workers and restoration, providing public utilities, effective communication, managing social services, transport services, and providing any assistance that the community may need to cope with the flood immediately.
Techniques could have been used to calm the fears of the people interviewed
Fear is a part of any disaster. However, people will still manage to attend to others by assisting families and the injured. However, the situation of the flood persisted and evoked a sense of fear within the community. In this case, the community nurse must counter fear by providing information that will alleviate it within the community. Effective communication on what actions to take to enhance safety, providing information on causes and possible consequences of the flood, offering information on how to contact family members, and information on how to get essential supplies and shelter can help in controlling fear among people interviewed.
Overall, a coordinated approach and action within the community and effective communication and flow of information would eliminate cases of fear and reassure the community that the situation is manageable.
How other nursing personnel could be prepared to help in responding to a similar emergency with a much larger affected area (e.g., the effect of Hurricane Katrina)
Weiner observes that nurses experience challenges associated with responses to disasters and emergencies that include “natural, manmade, and technological disasters” (Weiner, 2006). In this case, competency-based training programs offer internationally recognized opportunities for nurses to learn about disaster preparedness and response. This could be useful in situations witnessed during Hurricane Katrina. Nursing personnel would be able to:
- Protect themselves and survivors from further harm
- Take part in multidisciplinary and coordinated environments
- Communicate professionally and effectively
- Recognize the situation of the emergency and a possible casualty situation
- Ask for additional personnel and resources required to manage the situation
- Recognize their duties and observe professional limitations
- Cope with the disaster challenges and prepare families adequately
- Identify and define the disaster management in relation to recognized terms and roles, such as incident command, quarantine, triage, and emergency management systems among others
- Understand ethical challenges in mass casualty situations, such as confidentiality, human rights, management of supplies, and rejecting care among others
- Understand community challenges like shelter, sanitation, exposure, security, food and water supply, and protecting special groups among others.
References
Cox, E., and Briggs, S. (2004). Disaster Nursing: New Frontiers for Critical Care. Critical Care Nurse, 24(3), 16-22.
Jakeway, C., LaRosa, G., Cary, A., Schoenfisch, S., and Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing. (2008). The role of public health nurses in emergency preparedness and response: a position paper of the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing. Public Health Nursing, 25(4), 353-61.
Qureshi, K., Gebbie, K. M., and Gebbie, E. N. (2006). Public Health Incident Command System: A Guide for the Management of Emergencies or Other Unusual Incidents within Public Health Agencies, vol. 1. Albany: Center for Public Health Preparedness.
Weiner, E. (2006). Preparing Nurses Internationally for Emergency Planning and Response. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 11(3). Web.