Will the Nurses Show Up?: Developing Realistic Disaster Plans

Adams, Lavonne M.

Monday, 31 October 2011

Lavonne M. Adams, PhD, RN, CCRN
Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to discuss the ability and willingness of nurses to report to work during various disaster scenarios.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able discuss barriers to the ability and willingness of nurses to report to work during a disaster.

Health care organizations routinely make disaster plans, assuming that staff will be available to carry out details of the plans. Recent studies suggest this assumption is flawed. Without sufficient staff to provide for sudden increases in patient volume during a disaster, surge capacity diminishes, yet limited research has focused on staff ability and willingness to report to work during disaster. This study sought to increase knowledge in this arena of emergency preparedness. The purpose was to 1) determine ability and willingness of healthcare personnel to report to work during disaster and 2) identify barriers to reporting to work during disaster.

Methods and Procedures

Setting: A North Central Texas health care network.

Sample:

All nurses employed at 5 entities and in the emergency department at 1 entity were invited to participate in the survey (2804 nurses). 308 employees completed the survey (response rate 11%).

Survey:

Web-based and paper survey instrument based on “Disaster Survey” created by Qureshi et al. (2005) and modified by primary investigator. In response to scenarios specific to the network’s locale, participants were asked to indicate their ability and willingness to report to work and to provide demographic characteristics. Online responses were anonymous; paper survey responses were kept confidential. Statistical analysis was completed via SPSS. The study was approved by IRB’s of the health network and the university employing the primary investigator.

Outcomes:

Participants reported barriers for ability or willingness to work during time of disaster.

Willingness to report ranged from 68%-91%.

Ability to report ranged from 69-89%

Responsibility for children correlated significantly with ability and willingness to report to work for most scenarios.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

Nurses experience barriers affecting their ability and willingness to respond during disaster. Development of realistic disaster plans requires active exploration of these barriers and solutions to alleviate them.

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