Disaster nursing is defined as the presentation of professional nursing experiences to the community whose physical, emotional and health needs are badly affected by disasters.
It includes activities that should be carried out in cooperation with other fields in order to reduce hazards involving vital risk. The aim is to maximize the health of the community affected by disasters.
Disaster is defined by the World Health Organization as all kinds of natural, technological or individual-induced situations that cause loss of life and property for people, affect the society in physical, psychological and economic areas and cannot be combated with ordinary means, and as a result of these events, societies are adversely affected physically, psychologically and socially.
Since the work of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing during the Crimean War, nurses have become a part of the multidisciplinary team formed by health providers before, during and after all disasters that affect the society and their role has become very important since they constitute a large part of the health system.
Why is Disaster Nursing Important?
Worldwide, disaster nursing has been taken within the scope of special education within the nursing profession and the fact that disaster nursing is not only obliged to provide emergency care and first aid services after disasters and that it should be involved in every step of disaster management has made disaster nursing a specialty on its own. While the number of disaster nurses registered with the Japanese Nurses Association (JNA) was 4,800, it is stated that this number increased to 6,800 after the Japan earthquake in 2011. Approximately one million nurses in the United States work as public health nurses. This figure constitutes 40% of the 2.2 million working nurses. Many nursing schools in the USA have developed training, certificate and master's programs related to disasters.
Although there is no legal regulation for disaster nursing in Turkey, nurses work voluntarily in disaster situations with the statement in the Nursing Practice Regulation (2010) that "nurses carry out emergency planning in cooperation with the relevant units in line with the disaster plan in extraordinary situations, develop protocols and prepare teams to put them into practice when necessary". Disaster nursing activities are carried out by Public Health Nurses.
What are the Duties of Nurses in Disasters?
Disaster nurses, together with health professionals in the pre-disaster period, are required to make risk assessments regarding the disasters that the community may face and inform the community accordingly. In addition, they should also take part in processes such as development of first aid programs, preparation of the work area for disasters, etc.
In case of a disaster, it undertakes duties in triage and identification of disaster victims, care of injured disaster victims, referral procedures, determination of needs and priorities for care, prevention of infectious diseases, psychosocial support, management of shelters.
In the post-disaster period, the main objective is to normalize the damaged health care system and society as soon as possible, to provide a management plan for possible future disasters, and to strengthen disaster personnel and society. In this period, mental problems such as anxiety, depression, traumatic stress disorder can be seen along with health problems such as disability and injuries, infection hazard. In this process, the disaster nurse should take part in psychosocial support processes in cooperation with other disciplines in order to prevent infectious diseases, to continue immunization activities in the disaster area, to contribute to food safety processes, as well as to carry out medical and basic nursing care stages of people who need physical and psychosocial care.
On 06.02.2023, in the earthquake disaster in our country, the epicenter of which was Kahramanmaraş and 11 provinces were affected, all professionals of the nursing profession fulfilled their duties as part of the multidisciplinary team in their areas of authority and duty. However, since we are geologically located on a land with a high risk of disaster, there is a need for further specialization and training activities in the field of Disaster Nursing.