The Relevance of Training in Disaster Preparedness

Training and Disaster Preparedness

To start with, it would be prudent to note that when disasters occur, they tend to have a negative impact on the economic, mental, as well as physical wellbeing of all those affected. Further, disasters could also impact the environment in a largely negative way. For this reason, Naser and Saleem (2018) suggest that it is important to lend the relevant support to those impacted by disasters and deploy the relevant resources towards the relevant interventions. Essentially, the main priority in any disaster is to secure the wellbeing of victims. Stakeholders who are in most cases at the frontline are inclusive of specialized units (such as fire fighters and military personnel) and health care workers. As Naser and Saleem (2018) point out, the said healthcare professionals should have the relevant knowledge and capabilities to be able to respond to disaster scenarios in an effective manner. As a new coordinator in developing programs for emergency preparedness, there are various methods of training that I would deploy. These could be inclusive of organizing workshops, simulation exercises, and drills (Naser and Saleem, 2018). The said methods are effective given that they would help in the identification of gaps in emergency response.

In basic terms, training efforts ought to embrace a blended approach which could rope in a mix of drills, field workshops, classroom discussion, and online lectures (Naser and Saleem, 2018). Training will in this case be provided by a diverse team of specialists in key subject areas or realms. Training requires the deployment of diverse resources such as time. Such resources might in some instances be limited. A good example of a limited resource is time, i.e. owing to the fact that hospital employees are required to perform other hospital duties. For this reason, it would be prudent to offer training in group settings and in successive formats (Torani et al., 2019).