Disaster Olympix: A Unique Nursing Emergency Preparedness Exercise

Nurses' Preparedness, Readiness, and Anxiety in Managing COVID-19 Pandemic

Nurses' preparedness has been very important for them to treat patients effectively during the COVID-19 pandemic and serve the community. Nurses provide a vital role in mitigating the effects of health crises. In order to help nurses better understand their skills, abilities, and knowledge, as well as the actions that they should take to manage care, the research aims of this study are to (1) investigate the level of preparedness, readiness, and anxiety among nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak in Sabah, Malaysia; (2) examine the effects of various differences in preparedness and readiness among nurses; and (3) examine the effect of COVID-19 preparedness on anxiety among nurses. The results revealed that the nurses were moderately competent in managing the COVID-19 care situation. Each of the 3 differentiating characteristics (age, work experience, and previous disaster experience) did not predict how nurses would manage COVID-19 preparedness significantly. Besides, we also found only 2 dimensions of preparedness (familiarity with epidemiology and surveillance and familiarity with psychological issues) significantly predicted nurses' anxiety levels. Familiarity with epidemiology and surveillance predicted nurses' anxiety positively; in contrast, familiarity with psychological issues negatively influenced nurses' anxiety.

Pediatric disaster simulation in graduate and undergraduate nursing education

A university partnered with community agencies to include children and parents in a mass casualty full scale exercise on an academic campus. Nursing undergraduate students provided care to students in a multidisciplinary environment that involved hundreds of victims and health care personnel. One graduate nursing student worked with a youth theater group to provide disaster preparedness education to the children, culminating in their participation in the disaster exercise. Parents reported that the exercise was positive, that they would participate again, and that their children enjoyed the experience.

Nurses' preparedness and perceived competence in managing disasters

PURPOSE

This article is a descriptive analysis of rural nurses' perceived readiness to manage disaster situations.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The 58-item Disaster Readiness Questionnaire was used to survey hospital-based nurses from rural communities in Texas during the summer of 2011. The data were collected by emailing a link through the various hospital intranet sites, resulting in a sample size of 620 nurses.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that most nurses are not confident in their abilities to respond to major disaster events. The nurses who were confident were more likely to have had actual prior experience in disasters or shelters. Self-regulation of behavior (motivation) was a significant predictor of perceived nurse competence to manage disasters only in regard to the nurse's willingness to assume the risk of involvement in a disaster situation. Healthcare climate (job satisfaction) was not a determinant of disaster preparedness.

CONCLUSIONS

Global increases in natural and human-induced disasters have called attention to the part that health providers play in mitigation and recovery. Since nurses are involved in planning, mitigation, response, and recovery aspects of disasters, they should actively seek opportunities to participate in actual disaster events, mock drills, and further educational opportunities specific to disaster preparedness. Administrators must support and encourage disaster preparedness education of nurses to promote hospital readiness to provide community care delivery in the event of a disaster situation.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Nursing comprises the largest healthcare workforce, and yet there is very little research examining nurses' readiness for disaster.