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post 1

After completing this activity, it has really opened up my eyes on what I would have to do as a nurse if presented with a natural disaster in the hospital setting. For example, Southern California is well known for fires and earthquakes. In the occasion this were to happen, the nurses need to be readily prepared. They need to have an evacuation plan that they have training for. However, there should also make a plan for themselves and their family. When responding to a disaster, they still have their patients to attend to that they cannot leave. I think something that is extremely important when responding during a disaster is the priority of the patient. If I was in the situation, I would assist to the patients who are able to walk and ambulate themselves, and then assist the ones who are unable to more because they would need more attention. Also, the nurses need to know where their supplies are in the case that they need it during the disaster. Lastly, I believe a big nursing role will be them staying composed. I’m sure all of the patients will be scared so it is up to the nurses to stay calm and have good communication throughout this event even if they are the ones afraid as well.

As of right now, my current population is labor and delivery moms and babies. The current challenges that may occur is if the patient has an epidural and is unable to walk. Furthermore, if the patient is in active labor and is getting ready to delivery her baby. I believe those can be challenges because if the patient is in a lot of distress and pain, she won’t want to move, or it may even distress the baby because mom is in distress. Also, if mom has an epidural, she won’t be able to walk. I believe that the best way to get them out of the room is to use sheets to drag them out into safety or use specific transportation for the OB patients, if the floor provides them. Nurses on this floor would also need to know how to transport the babies in the case of emergency if mom is unable to transport her baby herself.

I think that the best way to get more hands on training is getting FEMA CERT training. In this training, the program educates people about preparing for hazards that can impact the area they are in or even around them with basic disaster response skills, like fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. I think this would be great for nurses so that they are knowledgeable in the case this does happen and they need to take care of a mom and her baby.

References:

Disaster Preparedness. (n.d.). American Nurses Association. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/disaster-preparedness (Links to an external site.)

Obtaining my Independent Study (IS) certificate? (2020, Feb 5). FEMA. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/faq/obtaining-my-independent-study-certificate (Links to an external site.)

Edited by Lanica Buhain on Jul 19 at 10:11am

post 2

Nurses play a pivotal role at every stage of the disaster. “In disaster management, nurses work with other healthcare providers to identify and plan for risks, participate in preparedness education and training, response efficiently and effectively in a timely manner, and participate in the recovery process with other disaster management teams” (Al Harthi et al, 2020). In the event of a disaster, nurses need provide immediate nursing care as an initial responder to save as many people as possible. In this process, nurses should be able to manage time and prioritize the severity of patients to minimize casualties. Critical thinking is necessary at this point because a lot of sources, like electricity, will be gone due to disaster.

My current patient population is pregnant women and neonates. When disaster occurs, pregnant women would face many challenges. Delivering baby can happen anytime and anywhere. If they start having contraction and about to start labor during or after disaster, they are at higher risk of infection as the sterile equipment might not be available. Patients who are unstable and need bedrest will be hard to evacuate especially when the elevator is not available during disaster. Furthermore, disaster can give a lot of stress to both mothers and infants. “For a fetus, receiving a small amount of stress hormones can have outsize negative effects” (Ahmen, 2019). “Babies of stressed mothers were mopre likely to have a difficult temperament and lower social and problem-solving skills” (Moss et al., 2021).

I can have more hands-on training to supplement the academic study of disaster management by participating emergency preparedness and response training. Routine training will prepare me for disaster and make myself more confident to response. “The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations” (Ready.gov, 2021).

References:

Ahmen, A. (2019, March 6). The stress of a natural disaster can take a toll on babies in utero. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/03…

Al Harthi, M., Al Thobaity, A., Al Ahmari, W., & Almalki, M. (2020). Challenges for Nurses in Disaster Management: A Scoping Review. Risk management and healthcare policy, 13, 2627–2634. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S279513

Moss, K., Simcock, G., & Mclean, M. (2021, March 25). Pregnant mother’s stress during floods can disadvantage their babies, but it’s not inevitable. Here’s what we can do right now. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/pregnant-mothers-stres…

Ready.gov. (2021, Apr, 12). Community emergency response team. https://www.ready.gov/cert

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