Disaster Nursing: Preparedness and Response Essay

At the initial stage of any large-scope emergency incident, there are limited opportunities for the provision of medical aid. Hence, the involvement of additional human, financial, and medical resources from the non-exposed regions or governmental reserves is required (Burkle, 2001). These factors emphasize the need for the preliminary preparation of the public health workforce capable of performing in the extreme conditions associated with a massive inflow of victims.

In disasters and consequent complication of environmental circumstances, there are many barriers to the effective provision of medical services – healthcare providers should organize their work and perform in the unusual situations which may be followed by the sharp aggravation of sanitary-epidemiologic conditions and discrepancy in present needs and available resources (Bradt, Abraham, & Franks, 2003). Therefore, the importance of a care provider’s role as an organizer and performer of all types of medical services drastically increases. Contrary to the general practice context, medical staff in disaster medicine is charged with extra duties and have more responsibilities for the development of a particular complex of competencies and practical skills which support facilitation of a more professional approach, enhancement of team coordination, and increase in work efficiency in the extreme circumstances.

The Competing Issue of Competencies

Since nurses constitute a large group of healthcare specialists, they play an important role in emergency risk reduction, disaster preparedness, and response (WHO, 2007). To provide their services effectively, nurses should have sufficient professional competence which is often defined as knowledge that enables a care provider to practice consistently and safely (ICN & WHO, 2009).

The issues of nursing competencies are of significant interest in the modern research literature, and the investigation of the professional competencies in the area of disaster medicine has both practical and theoretical implications as it may help to broaden the understanding of the issue and improve the outcomes of individual and organizational performance. Overall, the terms of competence and competencies are interrelated – they both denote the roles and skills health practitioners should perform to accomplish their professional tasks well. Gebbie and Merrill (2002) propose to regard competencies as a set of tangible skills, knowledge, behavior, and personal perceptions that allow the improvement of employee performance and facilitate the achievement of organizational sustainability. By the general definition of the concept, disaster nursing competencies are meant to ensure a high level of consistency in service provision, promote shared values, enhance team communication, and increase organizational efficiency (Alharbi, 2015).

Since there is a large number of professions in disaster medicine, there is no universal framework for the determination of competencies, but organizations use similar criteria for their identification. These criteria include individual needs in a profession, skills required to support the achievement of ideal performance indicators, the conceptual basis for competency development, contexts, and measures for the assessment of the achievement of competencies (Daily & Williams, 2013).

According to the ICN Framework of Competencies for the Nurse Specialist (2009), there are three basic groups of nursing competencies including professional, legal, ethical practice; care provision and management; as well as professional, personal, and quality development. When speaking of disaster nursing, the ICN framework extends to four key areas: disaster mitigation or prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery (ICN & WHO, 2007).

The review of the recent literature reveals that even more detailed perspectives on the issue are available. For example, Hsu et al. (2006) identify seven major competencies of a healthcare worker in emergencies: recognition of events and appropriate actions, the practice of critical event management, compliance with safety principles, comprehension of emergency operation plans, effective communication, understanding of both organizational and individual roles, and sufficient knowledge and skills.

The core competencies in emergency preparedness identified by Gebbie and Qureshi (2002) include comprehension of own role in disaster relief, awareness of the chain of command during emergencies, awareness of the emergency response plan activities, regular performance of core public health functions and responsibilities, proficient use of equipment and skills, ability to communicate with other team members, ability to identify the limits of own knowledge and practice within the scope of professional competence, engagement in the continuing process of education, eva