When nature disaster occurs, it is significant to provide an appropriate physical and mental care. Depending on the level of disaster, health care professionals should build an effective unique system for a mitigation of damage. Nurses should be aware of the possibility of occurrence the several kinds of nature disaster within the community belonged to their area of responsibility. The theoretical and practical experience that they accumulated can serve as a chance to save the disaster victims.
It is generally known that disaster is an extraordinary situation, which can lead to the appearance of human victims and material losses. Earthquake is one of the most common natural disasters. My community is not an exception. Experts from the area estimate the earthquake’s magnitude according to the six classes, which are great, major, strong, moderate, light and minor (Earthquake magnitude scale, n.d.).
The effects of the disaster depend on an earthquake magnitude and duration of the shaking. It can provide both minor and destroy damages. According to the results of the estimation, from 5 to 10 great earthquakes and approximately 900 000 of minor disasters occur each year (Earthquake magnitude scale, n.d.). The most dangerous impact of earthquakes is an earth and building wrecking besides the communication and transport disruption. A huge amount of people can receive complicated physical and mental injuries or diseases. The level of risks rises for people that situated in the earthquake epicentrum. The sudden and violent shaking of the ground causes soft tissue bruises, fractures, burns, hemorrhages and concussion of the brain. According to that fact, health care organizations are the first that involved in the rescue process.
The natural disaster management should consist of the preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation phases (The role of public health nurses, n.d.). Professional nurses provide their skills at the last three stages. The major role in a case of emergencies occurrence is using clinical knowledge of the injuries epidemiology and pathophysiology in addition to using of assessment skills (Millet, 2013.). According to the algorithm of providing the emergency medical aid, professional nurse’s activities should be resolute and accurate. In case of the extraordinary critical situations, the nurse should demonstrate her flexibility and ability to the instant reactions and evaluation of cases in order to recognize several risks and potential opportunities.
It is significant that specific set of nurse’s duties depends on the place of where she provides the medical treatment. In case she was called to the disaster site, the professional nurse needs to be ensured of her ability to provide an appropriate care within the rough conditions in destroyed buildings, besides the lack of the necessary equipment. Providing the patient safety, nurses evaluate the state of health, defect the problems priority and create the plan of medical operation. It is significant for the patient’s life to arrest of bleeding, remove the pain shock, dress a wound according to the desmurgy major points and prevent the crush syndrome, which is one of the most common states caused by the earthquake disaster (Care of clients, n.d.). Burns and electrocution suffered patients should receive an appropriate management of wounds and be rescued from severe infections (Care of clients, n.d.). Using decision-making skills with knowledge of immobilization rules should allow making decisions about victim transportation and evacuation. Within the hospital with uncontrolled patient flow, nurses should use the clinical judgment for evaluation of the physical and mental state of both light and extremely injured patients. The clinical judgment includes the results from temperature and blood pressure measurement, and frequency of breathing and pulse rate measurement. The results from an assessment of the vital parts of patient’s organism describe further nursing activities, which are preparation for the operation, providing the help with resuscitation and other urgent measures. Maintaining the imperturbability is the significant part of the professional nursing care. Regardless of patient’s health conditions, it is important for the earthquake victims to feel maximum confidence and composure incessantly.
The professional nurses should maintain cooperation and collaboration within the hospital departments (Eckert, 2006). Providing an emotional support and auspicious conditions for discussing the cases and its results with doctors-in-charge is essential. Since both the health care and non-health care communities involve in the rescue process there is the vital importance to cooperate with pharmacies, blood banks, psychological centers, volunteer and government health care organizations (Disaster nursing, 2011). The effective collaboration system advances the process of earthquake results mitigation.
In order to improve my community response to the earthquake disaster, I suggest providing an appropriate warning system included necessary data from the experts about the date and mitigation phases of the probable earthquake in a timely manner. Improving professional nursing care demands the arrangement of methodical courses for both nurses and society in order to maintain the awareness of possible disaster consequences and essential algorithm of actions in case of the earthquake occurs. It is important for the community to be involved in the informational flow and have an ability to cooperate with useful organizations.
References
Care of clients in disaster settings. (n.d.). Care of Populations in Specialized Settings. (Chapter 27). Retrieved from
http://health.prenhall.com/clark/pdf/CLARK27.pdf
Disaster nursing. (2011). Nursing management. Open access articles on nursing management. Retrieved from
http://currentnursing.com/nursing_management/disaster_nursing.html
Earthquake magnitude scale. (n. d.). UPSeis an educational site for budding seismologists. Retrieved from
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/magnitude.html
Eckert S. Preparing for disaster. (2006). American Nurse Today. American nurses association. Vol. 1. Retrieved from
https://americannursetoday.com/preparing-for-disaster/
Millet C. (2013). The public health nurse’s role in disaster preparedness. Public health nursing webinar. [Powerpoint Slides]. Retrieved from
http://www.maphn.org/Resources/Documents/CMilletpostver073113.pdf
The role of public health nurses in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery (n.d.). Association of Public Health Nurses Public Health Preparedness Committee. A position paper. Retrieved from
http://www.achne.org/files/public/APHN_RoleOfPHNinDisasterPRR_FINALJan14.pdf
