Nursing in the emergency department (ED) during a disaster: a review of the current literature.

The aim of this review was to explore the current literature about working as a nurse in the emergency department (ED) during a disaster. Nurses play an important role in caring for patients that present to the ED following a disaster. While there is a great deal of literature written about disasters and disaster response, little has been written from the emergency nursing perspective. Literature was identified through electronic databases from 2000 to 2011. Articles were reviewed if they provided discussion relevant to nursing in the ED during a disaster. 18 articles met the criteria. Five themes emerged from the review. There were two key findings: changes from a 'normal' working day to a disaster; and the preparedness of nurses working in the ED during a disaster. The literature highlights concern about the preparedness of ED nurses for disaster response and the capacity of nurses to transition to working in a disaster situation.

Hammad KS ，Arbon P ，Gebbie K ，Hutton A ... -  《-》

Chinese nurses' experience in the Wenchuan earthquake relief.

Yang YN ，Xiao LD ，Cheng HY ，Zhu JC ，Arbon P ... -  《-》

Exploring staff willingness to attend work during a disaster: a study of nurses employed in four Australian emergency departments.

Much of the literature about emergency nurses willingness to work during disasters has been from a non-Australian perspective. Despite the many recent disasters, little is known of Australian nurse's willingness to participate in disaster response. This paper presents findings from a study that explored nurses willingness to attend work during a disaster and the factors that influenced this decision. Data were collected consecutively using a combination of focus group and interview methods. Participants in this study, registered nurses from emergency departments, were recruited through convenience sampling from four hospitals in Australia. Participant narrative was electronically recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. The participants for both the focus groups and interviews compromised a mix of ages, genders and years of experience as emergency nurses from across four jurisdictions within Australia. Three major themes that influenced willingness emerged with a number of subthemes. Theme one reflected the uncertainty of the situation such as the type of disaster. The second theme surrounded the preparedness of the workplace, emergency nurse and colleagues, and the third theme considered personal and professional choice based on home and work circumstances and responsibilities. The decision to attend work or not during a disaster, includes a number of complex personal, work-related and professional factors that can change, depending on the type of disaster, preparedness of the work environment and the emergency nurses' personal responsibilities at that time.

Arbon P ，Cusack L ，Ranse J ，Shaban RZ ，Considine J ，Kako M ，Woodman RJ ，Mitchell B ，Bahnisch L ，Hammad K ... -  《-》

Caring for older patients at an emergency department -- emergency nurses' reasoning.

Kihlgren AL ，Nilsson M ，Sørlie V 《JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING》

Beyond a clinical role: nurses were psychosocial supporters, coordinators and problem solvers in the Black Saturday and Victorian bushfires in 2009.

This research explores the roles of nurses that participated in the Black Saturday and Victorian bushfires in February 2009, including aspects that influence nurses' roles, such as prior education, training and availability of resources. It is acknowledged that nurses play an important role in disaster response and recovery. However, our understanding of nurses' roles is superficial and commonly based on descriptions of events in which specifics relating to the nurses' roles are embedded within other topics or issues. Similarly, aspects that support nurses in the disaster environment, including previous experience, education and the provision of resources, are not well understood. Single, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 11 volunteer nursing members of St John Ambulance Australia. These interviews were electronically recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using a well-recognised human science approach. The thematic analysis identified two broad themes: being prepared and having an expansive role. Participants indicated that they were educationally prepared and had adequate clinical experience. They outlined that they took many resources with them; however, they were used very little, as their role consisted of minimal clinical care. Additionally, nurses performed roles including a psychosocial supporter, a coordinator of care and resources, and problem solvers. The nurses' role in providing health care during and/or following a disaster is more than a clinical care role. This understanding should be applied to the development of education programs, competencies and policies, with a particular focus on contextualising the education to the realities of possible disastrous scenarios that incorporates elements of coordination, problem solving and psychosocial care within a national framework. Additionally, this awareness education should be used to inform nurses about the realities of working in disaster environments.

Ranse J ，Lenson S 《-》