Abstracts – 17th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine s151

(P2-46) Understanding the Willingness of Australian be examined with the objectives of minimizing acquaintance
Emergency Nurses to Respond to a Health Care Disaster and cross-contagion in mind. Directional leadership is crucial
J. Ranse,1 P. Arbon,2 L. Cusack,2 R. Shaban, 3 J. Considine,4 during chaotic situations. Clarity of thought and decisiveness
B. Mitchell,4 R. Woodman,2 K. Hammad,2 M. Kako,2 L. is critical. Good communication channels must be established
Bahnisch2 with internal and external agencies in all phases of emergency
1. Disciplines of Nursing and Midwifery, Canberra, Australia department response. Apart from the acute response mecha-
2. Adelaide, Australia nism, training is an important factor in enhancing staff pre-
3. Brisbane, Australia paredness. Regular continuity of education is essential to keep
4. Melbourne, Australia
staff up-to-date with the latest procedures and legislation.
Background: Disaster response is an emergency nursing Drills and audits are useful for assessing staff competency lev-
responsibility. Responding to disasters, however, is hazardous els. Familiarity and easy accessibility to overall response plans
as terrorism, pandemics and chemical industrial accidents chal- and detailed individual action cards also are important. The
lenge the safety of nurses and their families. International expe- availability and adequacy of operationally ready equipments
rience has shown that nurses can become victims of disasters and consumables must not be underestimated. All equipment
and that fear of contaminating family and friends may prevent and consumables must be easily accessible and clearly labeled.
nurses from attending work or returning home during a disaster Bimonthly audits are recommended to ensure defect-free equip-
response. An understanding of the factors that enable or dis- ment and validity of consumables. In conclusion, regardless of
able their disaster preparedness will underpin future disaster these difficulties, emergency departments continue to be the
policy and planning for Australian and international health care main provider of care to contaminated individuals. Thus, it
organizations. is imperative that all emergency departments in Singapore be
Methods: This study examines the willingness of Australian vigilant during peace time.
Prehosp Disaster Med 2011;26(Suppl. 1):s151
emergency nurses to attend work to respond to a health care doi:10.1017/S1049023X11004912
disaster, using a 3-phase mixed-method design. Phase 1 was a
national online survey, with 451 responses. Phase 2 involved 6 (P2-48) Improve Nursing Disaster Preparedness by
focus groups at 4 hospital sites, with 41 participants and Phase Education and Maneuver
3 involved in-depth interviews with emergency nurses at differ- H.R. Khankeh,1 G.R. Masoomi,1 A.R. Jallali,2 V. Ghanbari,1
ent sites, with 11 participants. This presentation will highlight S. Madah,1 M. Nakhaee,1 M. Ranjbar1
results from the study on the willingness of Australian emer- 1. Nursing, 1985713831, Iran
gency nurses to respond to a health care disaster. 2. Clinical Science and Education, 118 83, Sweden
Results: Preliminary findings indicate that emergency nurses’
willingness to respond to health care disasters was dependent on Introduction: Nurses have pivotal roles before, during, and after
a number of factors, including their out-of-work responsibilities, disasters. Enhancing their professional skills to help the injured
the changes to their roles and responsibilities at work, their con- is one the basic principles in health management in disasters.
fidence in management and their work team, the information The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of train-
they are given about the disaster, the type of disaster and the ing disaster nursing preparedness on improving the prepared-
degree of risk involved. ness of nurses.
Conclusions: The contribution the findings this study will make Method: Using a quasi-experimental method, 113 nurses were
to disaster planning and preparedness for nursing staff, health selected randomly. The preparedness program, which consisted
planners and administrators will be outlined. of a one-day workshop on disaster management, a tabletop
Prehosp Disaster Med 2011;26(Suppl. 1):s151 exercise, and an operational maneuver, was executed for the
doi:10.1017/S1049023X11004900
participants. The preparedness of all participating nurses was
measured by disaster preparedness questionnaire, one week and
also one month after the program. Data analysis was performed
(P2-47) Emergency Response to a Mass Gathering by using the ANOVA test.
Involving Hazardous Materials Results: The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and perfor-
A.L. Soh, M.S. Lim, K.K. Soh mance improved from 5.55 to 19.88, from 66.18 to 72.41, and
Emergency Department, Singapore, Singapore from 3.36 to 12.48, respectively (p < 0.001). In addition, the
mean of total preparedness score was increased from 75.14 in
Mass gatherings involving hazardous materials (HAZMAT) pretest to 104.77 in the follow up (p < 0.001).
poses unique challenges to the operations of any emergency Conclusions: Preparedness plan training improves participants’
department. A screening station is essential for risk stratification preparedness for responding disasters, because preparedness and
and identification of HAZMAT casualties. Existing patients reliability for responding to disasters is influenced directly by
and relatives in the emergency department must be restricted the training courses and previous experiments. Therefore, based
and controlled. Prompt segregation and decontamination of on the results obtained in this project, in order to improve the
casualties is crucial in a HAZMAT incident. Identification preparedness of nursing staff, including a disaster preparedness
of such a facility with planning of inflow and outflow routes plan in academic, educational curriculum and as a continuing
must not be undermined. Crowd control should be performed educational program is recommended.
by securing all entrances and exits, minimizing cross-contam- Prehosp Disaster Med 2011;26(Suppl. 1):s151
ination The topography of the emergency department must doi:10.1017/S1049023X11004924

May 2011 Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X11004912