Introduction

Simulation-Based Education for Nurses in Caring for the Psychological Well-being of Survivors of Disaster

Background Nurses require continuing education and training to maintain comprehensive and cooperative relationships with the survivors of disasters, understand their environment, and secure their safety. Method The aim of this study was to develop and test a psychological first aid nursing simulation that involved a standardized patient admitted to the emergency department after an earthquake. A nonrandomized feasibility trial was applied to test the effects of the program. The effects of the simulation were measured according to the participants' psychological first aid knowledge, performance competence, and self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using descriptive, difference, and correlation analyses. Results A total of 24 emergency nurses participated in this study. The results showed significant differences in psychological first aid knowledge, performance competence, and self-efficacy between the experimental group and the control group. Conclusion The psychological first aid training program used in this study was effective in improving nurses' psychological first aid knowledge, performance competence, and self-efficacy. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2022;53(3):131-136.].

Health care emergency management: establishing the science of managing mass casualty and mass effect incidents

Particularly since 2001, the health care industry has witnessed many independent and often competing efforts to address mitigation and preparedness for emergencies. Clinicians, health care administrators, engineers, safety and security personnel, and others have each developed relatively independent efforts to improve emergency response. A broader conceptual approach through the development of a health care emergency management profession should be considered to integrate these various critical initiatives. When based on long-standing emergency management principles and practices, health care emergency management provides standardized, widely accepted management principles, application concepts, and terminology. This approach could also promote health care integration into the larger community emergency response system. The case for a formally defined health care emergency management profession is presented with discussion points outlining the advantages of this approach.