Braced for Disaster as Nursing

¶ … Braced for Disaster

As nursing practitioner and researcher Traci Ashcraft points out in the opening paragraphs of her article "Braced for Disaster: Transfer Lessons in Preparedness from the ED, OR, and ICU to Acute Care," disaster planning and preparedness is typically limited to certain areas of the hospital and the professionals working in them, and acute care tends to receive relatively low levels of planning, training, and preparation for such occurrences (Ashcraft 2001, p. 49). Throughout the rest of the article, Ashcraft discusses the importance of disaster preparedness and what she identifies as the key features of any preparedness system and plan. These features include both detailed chains of command and response actions in the event of specific situations, as well as general ongoing knowledge maintenance needs and a variety of other continuous tasks that allow the acute care unit not only to adjust to disasters, but to truly be prepared for such situations at any time (Ashcraft 2001).

The actual disaster response plan that Ashcraft helped to develop in her own nursing unit, and which she advocates in the article, consists of the following elements: purpose, function, chain of command, notification, personnel, and admission responsibilities (Ashcraft 2001, p. 49-50). The author also stresses the importance of getting and maintaining accurate data, spelling out certain procedures for nurses recording data as a means of keeping administrators and other relevant personnel informed; the need to "identify potential discharges" to make room for more patients in acute care is also discussed (Ashcraft 2001, p. 50). By keeping track of the minute details, the bigger picture in a disaster can be more easily dealt with.

The article goes on to list and discuss many other areas of important consideration when it comes to planning for a disaster and thus carrying to an effective response when a disaster actually strikes. Proper staffing levels need to be maintained at all times, and contact information for additional staff should be organized according to distance from the hospital in order to bring in as many staff members as possible as soon as they can be made available in the unit (Ashcraft 2001, p. 51). Prioritizing inpatient care in the manner that allows for the most effective and efficient use of resources and ensuring that proper follow-up appointments and symptom/pain management techniques are effectively communicated are both essential tasks of acute nursing staff during a disaster response, as well (Ashcraft 2011, p. 51-2). Having procedures in place to speed up standard admissions procedures during a disaster response is also highly recommended by the author (Ashcraft 2001, p. 52).