Call for help: how prepared are you for a disaster?

By impactEDnurse • Jun 16th, 2010 • Category: ectopics, the nurses desk:

Liz McNeill, would like our help.

Liz is a nurse working with the Research Program for Disaster Nursing at Flinders University, and she is presenting a paper for the Australian Emergency Coordinators Conference to be held in September this year.
The paper, will explore the expectations of nurses during times of crisis or mass emergencies.

Liz would be interested in readers comments1 on their own experiences of working during a mass casualty or major emergency:

  • What were your coping strategies?
  • Did you receive adequate physical, emotional or psychological preparation?
  • Did you get enough support after the event?
  • Do you have any advice for nurses who may find themselves in a similar situation in the future?

Even if you haven’t been involved an an actual disaster situation, how do you think you would respond to the above situations in the context of your work environment.

Please take a moment to capture some thoughts or to pass on to a colleague you know who may have been exposed to such a situation……

  1. These comments may be used as part of her presentation [↩]

impactEDnurse is also known as Ian Miller, a nurse with over 26 years experience working in a busy emergency department in, Australia. This site in no way reflects the opinions of that hospital. All stories (although based on actual experiences) have been changed to protect patient confidentiality.
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4 Responses »

  1. Lliz McNeill on June 16th, 2010 at 5:19 pm:

    Thanks Ian, love research in action!

    Any feedback will help ensure the message gets across with the aim of improving training and support in the future… so let it roll ;-)

    (comments will be de -indentified if used in the presentation and will certainly add increased importance to the issue)

  2. bluetoothbuddha on June 18th, 2010 at 2:34 am:

    Liz and Ian,

    Thanks for a relevant, and I thought, extremely important topic for discussion and debate. I shall follow this up in all earnest.

    Would you be interested in the two cents’ worth of someone who has worked the A&E floors for more than ten years? Although I have never worked in Oz, and I have now officially sold my soul to the devil by taking up post-grad neonatal intensive care training, my first love will always be emergency and I feel very strongly about the disaster management levels in our hospitals.

    I should know, I have had first hand experience of them, or lack of them, in four countries.

    Please do let me know if you’d be interested.
    Best, bb

  3. bluetoothbuddha on June 18th, 2010 at 2:43 am:

    Oh, and I am not a nurse, either. But shouldn’t disaster management be about the whole team? I am sure you would like some perspective from a harried A&E doc.
    :)
    bb

  4. Lliz McNeill on June 19th, 2010 at 10:34 am:

    Absolutely interested as I am sure the issues are similar when it come to expectations in times of need. Your experience would be very insightful.

    The nursing focus is because I can speak from that view as a nurse but agree, it is certainly a team effort at any time!

    Feel free to post here or email me at liz.mcneill@flinders.edu.au

    cheers
    Liz

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