The nursing profession plays an important role in all the aspects of emergencies including preparedness, recovery, response and mitigation. Natural as well as man-made disasters can be tragic, scary and chaotic events and hence, American Nurses Association (ANA) is tasked with making sure that disaster preparedness and response are well organized in order to prepare the nurses personally and professionally in tackling disaster (American Nurses Association, 2010, p.4). ANA has resources, educational opportunities and policies which it provides to nurses on disaster preparedness. This is because prepared nurse professionals can cope well and assist the affected communities to recover from disaster faster. The nurses that are better placed to curb disasters are public health nurses since they possess the required knowledge and skills to develop disaster preparedness policies and all-inclusive plans. Additionally, they can access and evaluate disaster preparedness, response exercises, drills and training (American Nurses Association, 2010, p.4).
A nurse’s response to a disaster outbreak is usually faced with lots of unresolved issues that pertain to ethical, professional and legal considerations which usually hampers their capacity to react. The ethics and duty to provide care by nurses are contained in health professional codes. The code states that, during a man-made or natural disaster that may include communicable disease outbreak, nurses have an obligation to provide health care by using suitable safety precautions. It further explains that nurses have a duty to discharge care while at the same time ensuring a safe, compassionate, ethical and competent care is given to the patients (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008, p.5). Nevertheless, there are situations in which a nurse is accepted to withdraw from discharging care. This right is granted to nurses to protect the health of their families and their own. Therefore, there are two concepts, including risk and beneficence which clarify the duty to provide care and right to refuse.
The Beneficence concept is acknowledged by all nursing ethical codes, and it requires all nurses to discharge their duties in a manner that will bring good to the patient and reduce potential harm. On other hand, nurses and other healthcare providers are given the exceptional privilege and power to standardize their profession within the society (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008, p.3). A nurse has a duty to provide care when the risk involved in offering care is low and vice-versa. Furthermore, nurses having high-risk specialties or who have work in high-risk areas are considered to have accepted higher levels of risks and hence have elevated obligations to provide care in the affected areas than those who are working in lower-risk locations.
References
American Nurses Association (ANA). (2010). The Role of the Public Health Nurse In Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. Retrieved from http://www.achne.org/files/public/APHN_RoleOfPHNinDisasterPRR_FINALJan14.pdf
Canadian Nurses Association. (2008). nurses' ethical consideration in a pandemic or other emergency. Retrieved from https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/ethics_in_practice_august_2008_e.pdf?la=en
