C H A P T E R 1

INTRODUCTION TO DISASTERS
AND DISASTER NURSING
Robert Powers

URSES ARE OFTEN CALLED UPON to provide aid and care

N during a variety of disaster events, including war environments,

complex emergencies with displaced populations, large-scale
disasters that disrupt the normal delivery of health care to the
community, and local emergencies that temporarily strain resources. In these
settings, nurses utilize their unique skills, abilities, and understanding of the
community to the betterment of the population by striving to deliver the high-
est attainable level of care that the adverse circumstances allow.

OBJECTIVES:
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Define disasters and disaster nursing;

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Describe the characteristics of disaster nursing; and
Understand the phases of a disaster and nursing’s role during each phase.

The critical thinking and problem-solving skills of nurses, coupled with

their flexibility and adaptability, help provide the methods for managing the
difficulties that arise during disasters, such as shortages of supplies and staff and
failures in communication. Although no two disasters are exactly the same, and
nurses often must be able to improvise and adapt their care practices, they must
be well-versed in their potential role to effectively deliver care in a disaster. This
preparation comes through education in relevant disaster topics, skills acquired
through hands-on practice, interaction with preparedness procedures, and a
firm understanding of local and regional capabilities and resources.
Nurses possess the necessary coordination and delegation skills which,
when coupled with their care management experience, positions them to serve

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capably in healthcare leadership roles during disasters. Nursing leadership may

be provided through established leadership roles or through the spontaneous
assumption of a leadership role by a nurse identifying and taking action to solve
a particular problem.
Nurses, therefore, should be well-prepared for their potential role in a dis-
aster setting and should participate in all phases of a disaster to the fullness of
their capabilities.

DISASTERS
During disaster events, people may be without power, shelter, communica-
tion, food, and water. Emergency response capabilities can quickly become
overwhelmed due to the magnitude of the damage. Injured members of the
community may be unable to find transportation to healthcare facilities as the
local emergency medical services (EMS) may not be able to gain access to vic-
tims or may be overwhelmed by the sheer mass of those in need. Healthcare
facilities may be damaged directly during the impact and be unable to provide
emergency services, or they may need to be evacuated. Those healthcare facil-
ities that remain operational soon become inundated with more arriving
patients than they have the staff or space to manage.
These events, typically, are called “disasters” by the media and by the
affected community. However, many of these events are more accurately clas-
sified as an accident or an emergency if the local emergency resources, though
potentially overwhelmed initially, are able to quickly manage the situation
without requiring resources from other communities.1
Disasters are events that inflict significant damage to life or property and that
substantially overwhelm the local community’s resources. In some cases, the
magnitude of the damage can even prevent the community from responding.

HEALTHCARE DISASTERS
Considering the increasing population density and escalating development in
disaster-prone areas, the potential of disasters to impact health care is growing.
A healthcare disaster is defined as: “a precipitous or gradual decline in the over-
all health status of a community with which it is unable to cope with adequate-
ly without outside assistance.”1
Healthcare disasters involve a failure of the normal provision of health-
care. This may be caused by direct damage to healthcare facilities or by the
large influx of patients during a disaster that overwhelms the existing health-
care services and requires outside assistance. Although opinions differ regard-
ing classifying events such as armed conflicts or ongoing humanitarian crises
as disasters,2 they also can result in conditions that limit or prevent the deliv-
ery of health care.

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 INTRODUCTION TO DISASTERS AND DISASTER NURSING

DISASTER NURSING
Nurses comprise the largest healthcare workgroup in most countries and are at
the forefront of the healthcare response to disasters. From the work of Florence
Nightingale in the Crimean War to the recent care provided by nurses in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Asian tsunami of 2004, nurses
historically are linked to the provision of care during crises. Unique additions to
the knowledge base of nursing, coupled with the distinct dilemmas that must be
properly managed during the different phases of a disaster, necessitate the dis-
tinction of disaster nursing as its own individual specialty.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) defines nursing as follows:
Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of indi-
viduals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well,
and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, pre-
vention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people.
Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation
in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems manage-
ment, and education are also key nursing roles.2

THE GOAL OF DISASTER NURSING is ensuring that the highest

achievable level of care is delivered through identifying, advocating, and caring for all impacted
populations throughout all phases of a disaster event, including active participation in all levels
of disaster planning and preparedness.

Disaster nursing provides this care, advocacy, and promotion of health with-
in the context of a disaster. Disaster nursing is provided in numerous environ-
ments and settings, each with unique conditions with which disaster nurses
must be familiar. Essential nursing abilities needed for the appropriate manage-
ment of disaster victims include critical thinking, adaptability, teamwork, and
leadership. Proper patient care and management in disaster settings mandates an
understanding of both individual care and mass patient care. Nurses cannot be
unprepared when the health care of their community is in need.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTER NURSING

Caring for the Community During a Disaster
The disruptions in a community resulting from the impact of a hazardous
event have varying impacts on nursing and the provision of health care. These
impacts may be short- or long-term, based on the magnitude of the damage to
the community and the ability of local resources to readily address and meet

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the healthcare needs of the community without additional resources. During a

medical disaster, nurses must be aware of the potential hindrances in delivering
care and the modifications necessary to provide this care.
Whether the precipitating event is a relatively small multiple-casualty
incident or a catastrophic event, the provision of health care can, at least tem-
porarily, be overwhelmed. Nurses may be called upon to care for large numbers
of patients, often at a rapid pace. Without proper planning, the response can
become chaotic, resulting in less effective care delivery. Nurses must prop-
erly triage patients, ensure appropriate distribution of available nursing staff to
maximize care delivery, and coordinate the appropriate distribution and place-
ment of essential supplies and equipment.
With healthcare resources overwhelmed, the ability to provide the usual
standard of care may not be possible. Unless regional plans have identified
acceptable levels of care during a disaster, the nurse may face the difficult task
of determining what constitutes reasonable care for the patients with the given
resources. The balancing act between legal and ethical concerns and what nurs-
es are physically capable of providing is a difficult one.
Providing nursing care during a disaster also necessitates coordinating care
with other agencies and disciplines within the healthcare system, and maintain-
ing the functionality of the healthcare facility itself. Some important roles of the
nurse during a disaster are overseeing the transfer of patients to regional hospi-
tals located away from the disaster-impacted area, assigning supplemental
healthcare workers, and obtaining needed supplies.
The scope of care provided by nurses also may expand in response to a dis-
aster. Based on the magnitude of the event, the community may be in need of
food, water, and shelter. Public health nurses as well as nurses not routinely
involved in addressing these basic survival needs may be called upon because
of the severity of the conditions or because normal public health functions
have been damaged. Nurses also may be needed to practice outside of their
healthcare facility as first responders on the scene or to care for vulnerable
populations during a disaster.
An ineffective nursing response can negatively impact the community’s out-
come from a disaster by failing to appropriately match nursing resources with
need. Nurses must be well versed in strategies for overcoming disaster-induced
adversities, and fully understand the different roles they may be required to
embrace in order to deliver care effectively in a disaster setting.

Personal Impact
In a disaster, nurses may witness and be affected by troubling images around them.
Regardless of the emotions elicited by these images, nurses’ perseverance in pro-
viding needed care in times of a disaster is vital to the community’s outcome.

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Nurses working in disasters also may experience losses of their own. Due
to a lack of communication or the pressing need of their duties, they may not
know the status of their family or friends. The nurse’s family, in turn, may not
know the welfare of the nurse until after the disaster has abated.
There also may be increased physical demands during a disaster, such as
working long shifts in abnormal, difficult conditions. One quandary for health-
care workers in disasters is providing care to others while taking measures to care
for their own needs. Nurse leaders must incorporate care for the nurses into dis-
aster planning. This should include strategies for rotating staff, measures to obtain
and provide information about family to the nurses on duty, and ensuring the
availability of immediate support for those having difficulty coping. Nurses, in
turn, must understand how a disaster could affect them, both immediately and in
the long-term, and develop coping strategies and support networks to care for
themselves and their colleagues within the nursing community.

Adverse Conditions
The nature of a disaster can cause adverse environmental conditions, such as
flooding or high winds. Structural damage from events such as earthquakes can
render the healthcare facility a potentially unsafe environment. Weather condi-
tions, e.g., flooding, can result in the closing of community medical centers and
hospitals, and in difficulties in receiving and evacuating patients. These weath-
er conditions and the damage they cause, also can hamper the arrival of assis-
tance and increase the isolation of the affected community from healthcare
response. Nurses working in disasters should be aware of potential hazards and
incorporate these considerations into planning and response.

Lack of Recognition
In some parts of the world, nurses are not allowed to voice their ideas nor are they
allowed to participate in administrative decision-making. This may be more pro-
nounced in the arena of disaster healthcare, in which planning and response deci-
sions may be made by other disciplines, and in which disaster nursing may not be
well-integrated. This results in a detrimental delivery of care to the community
during a disaster. The importance of the contributions of nurses often is not under-
stood by other members of the medical community or by other sectors of the com-
munity despite the fact that, in many instances, nurses may be the only healthcare
workers providing care in a community. Frequently, they are at the frontlines of a
disaster, and have significant insight into the immediate needs of the community.
Nurse representatives must be included in discussions concerning their
community and regional healthcare disaster plans, and their input should be
mandated and integrated by emergency planners and healthcare leaders. The
active cultivation of nursing insight and innovative thinking into disaster

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planning and preparedness will ensure that nursing care will be provided, to
the good of the community.

Critical Thinking
Critical thinking and problem-solving are crucial skills in managing the
effects of a disaster. Nurses begin learning critical thinking skills early in their
careers as they assess and determine patient needs, then apply and adapt nurs-
ing care to meet those needs. The application of critical thinking to the disaster
setting is one of nurses’ substantial strengths and, if properly directed, can be of
substantial value to the overall healthcare response.
With a strong knowledge base of the community and its potential resources,
nurses are in a key position to assist with the necessary problem-solving required
during a disaster. Possible problems to address include creating alternate ways to
obtain needed supplies when the normal routes are unavailable, or determining
non-traditional locations to position bases of community care to serve the disas-
ter-affected population.
When issues related to direct patient care and care management arise, the
value of nurses’ critical thinking skills becomes unequivocal. Ineffective triage,
unrecognized injuries or changes in a patient’s condition, lack of documenta-
tion, and poorly managed transfers to the operating room or to regional hospi-
tals all can negatively impact the community outcome. Nurses have the ability
to recognize these and similar complications of disaster response, and affect
corrective action through their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
These same critical thinking skills are major contributions nurses can bring to
all levels of disaster planning, preparedness, and evaluation. Perceiving gaps in cur-
rent disaster plans and envisioning improvements for greater functionality are valu-
able components of nurses’ critical thinking capabilities. Although these strengths
of nursing may be overlooked because of the difficulty in defining or measuring
them, nurses in disaster settings should fully utilize these skills toward the im-
provement of the care delivered and, ultimately, of the overall disaster response.

Adaptability
Because of the rapidly changing circumstances during a disaster, adaptability is
essential. Flexibility and adaptability increase the nurse’s capacity to function
efficiently and effectively during disaster events.
Nurses may need to provide care in a crowded emergency department (ED),
or at the scene of the event, or in a quickly converted hospital cafeteria, or in a
makeshift tent. During a disaster, healthcare locations are not static and nurses
may need to shift locations multiple times as the conditions change.
Shortages of, and problems with, equipment also necessitate adaptability.
Nurses may be required to provide care without the usual provisions. Dim or

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no lighting, lack of electrical power, and difficulties with communication sys-

tems are issues that nurses may face and have to adapt to during a disaster;
these conditions may be intermittent and require frequent re-assessments and
adaptations.
Creativity often emerges during the process of adaptation as nurses com-
bine their critical thinking skills with the needs of the current situation. For
example, shortages of supplies may lead to improvised methods of sharing the
limited equipment between patients, or using a different method or resource
to perform the same function. Improvisation is spontaneous, but must be
grounded in solid nursing knowledge and experience to provide the appropri-
ate modifications for the situation.
Flexibility related to the variety of assigned or improvised tasks nurses per-
form will be needed; these tasks may range from direct patient care to leading
the healthcare facility or community disaster effort. Some of these roles are
developed well before the disaster through careful disaster planning; other roles
develop spontaneously because of an identified need during a disaster. These
roles also may change abruptly, and the nurse may be adapting hastily, moving
from one role to the next in response to the shifting needs.

Leadership
Nurses must fully utilize their leadership abilities to coordinate and organize
efforts during all stages of a disaster. Nurses in leadership positions are neces-
sary not only to properly manage other nurses involved during a disaster, but
also to address the overall healthcare response.
In a disaster response, nurse leaders oversee the effectiveness of that re-
sponse; they are the coordinators who use their experience and knowledge to
shape the disaster effort — coordinating personnel as well as supplies and re-
sources. They may reallocate nurses, supplies, and equipment to fill gaps in the
response effort, or reinforce areas that are being overwhelmed, e.g., redirecting
patient flow in the hospital to prevent patients from bottlenecking unnecessar-
ily while they await treatment. These changes often are made as the nurse leader
interacts with other services and refines the response effort.
Community-wide responses, such as the establishment of shelters or fever
clinics, also are implemented through nursing leadership. The nurse leader
ensures that the healthcare facility — be it hospital, medical clinic, or communi-
ty center — is adequately and appropriately addressing the needs of the commu-
nity. Critical to this effort is the involvement of nurse leaders in all disaster plan-
ning and preparedness to ensure that their leadership experience is incorporated
before a disaster occurs. Utilizing nurses’ management knowledge and experi-
ence will help disaster planners and hospital administrators foresee problems
and correct them well before these problems negatively impact the response.

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Ideally, nursing roles and positions in disasters are pre-established by

careful disaster planning. However, in the absence of a designated leader, a
nurse who begins to coordinate and delegate responsibilities in an attempt to
overcome an identified response shortcoming may spontaneously assume a
leadership role. The individual nurses who solve problems related to a multi-
tude of issues throughout the disaster response also demonstrate nursing
leadership skills. Without strong leadership, the effectiveness of the disaster
response will be severely limited. Nurses possess the necessary coordination
and delegation skills which, when coupled with their care management expe-
rience, position them to capably serve in healthcare leadership roles during
disasters.
During a disaster, the population is in a period of need and there is no large
group of healthcare workers better poised to care for them than nursing. Nurses
must clearly understand and practice beforehand their potential role in a disas-
ter and have the necessary disaster education and skills to be in a position of
readiness. Nursing knowledge and care skills coupled with their strengths
of flexibility, teamwork, critical thinking, and leadership will be crucial in
addressing the healthcare needs of the disaster.

Nursing in the Phases of Disasters

Disaster management encompasses the efforts to deal with hazards and the dis-
asters they may produce. It is divided into three phases: preparedness, relief
response and recovery. Each phase is an integral component of a holistic ap-
proach to an effective healthcare response. To be truly successful in their role of
providing care during disasters, nurses must be involved integrally in all phases.

Preparedness
This phase involves the planning and preparedness activities performed prior to
a disaster. Mitigation initiatives are specific preparedness strategies designed to
reduce the losses from disasters, e.g., building earthquake-resistant hospitals.
Planning begins with a hazard-vulnerability assessment, which is an analysis of
the particular risks that a specific community and its healthcare system could
face. Preparedness efforts are guided by these identified risks; in other words,
planning focuses on preparing for those hazards that are most likely to occur in
that given community.
Effective preparedness hinges on the development of a well-organized dis-
aster response plan. In many countries, nurses are not allowed to contribute to
this essential plan due to a lack of professional recognition and/or gender issues.
However, when local or regional leaders work to design the healthcare response,
nursing involvement is crucial to guide the planning toward effective health
care during a disaster. Nursing expertise can guide plans by evaluating and

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redesigning ineffective care strategies, assuring proper utilization of nursing

potential, and ensuring efficient and cohesive patient flow throughout the
healthcare facility and the community.
Training and practice are essential components of the preparedness phase.
Drills provide an opportunity to identify areas within the disaster plans that
need improvement. Education, coupled with the hands-on practical experience
during drills, provide nurses with confidence in their capabilities by rehearsing
and familiarizing them with their potential disaster roles and responsibilities.

Relief Response
The healthcare relief response to a disaster encompasses the broad scope of
those actions intended to provide immediate health care to the community and
begins with the initial notice of an impending or actual event. Often, the first
notification of an event that healthcare facilities receive is not a radio call from
an EMS crew on the scene, but, rather, the sudden, unannounced influx of
arriving patients. Gradual onset events, such as emerging infectious diseases,
tend to begin slowly but increasingly overwhelm healthcare resources as more
patients develop symptoms and seek care. The ED triage nurse or the public
health nurse may be the first to recognize the impact on health care and deter-
mine appropriate care as they call for the implementation of the emergency
response plan. In the instance of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks or
accidents, nurses may be involved in the immediate role of decontamination,
setting up showers, and donning chemical suits and respirators.
Occurring simultaneously and in synergy with patient care, is the coordi-
nation of the response so that all of the healthcare facility’s resources, including
the nursing staff, are utilized to their fullest. This draws upon the work put into
the disaster planning phase by following the procedures for establishing the hos-
pital emergency operations center, implementing staff recalls, creating surge
areas, and maintaining supply deliveries to the facility.
Outside of healthcare facilities, nurses also will be integrally involved in
assessing community needs; providing shelter; food, and water; establishing and
staffing vaccination or distribution centers; and providing psychosocial assis-
tance. Additionally, nurses may be providing care at the scene of the event or at
field hospitals established to administer supplemental care to the community.

Recovery
The focus of relief response efforts is the delivery of health care throughout the
time of the community’s immediate needs. Gradually, this phase will give way
to the recovery phase of the disaster, with a decline in the number of patients in
urgent need of care, and the arrival of outside resources to augment the health-
care capacity of the community. Recovery efforts are directed to rebuilding the

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basic societal functions of the community, including rebuilding the healthcare

system to ensure adequate mechanisms are in place to effectively provide and
monitor the ongoing health needs of the community.
Disaster healthcare recovery plans should incorporate the long-term support
provided by the nurses who care for the individual needs of the population. Post-
response nursing tasks include public health surveillance, establishing tempor-
ary clinics, guiding immunization programs, and ensuring that the ongoing
health and survival needs of the community are met. Healthcare facility nurses
may be providing care in tents or other temporary shelters for an extended peri-
od of time, if their facility sustained significant structural damage. Nurses also
may be involved in providing psychological care to the community to assist its
members with the grieving and coping processes. Nurses’ knowledge of the
community, coupled with their flexibility in providing a broad range of needed
tasks, underscores the need for their extensive involvement in the recovery
efforts to return the community to a pre-disaster state.

CONCLUSION
During disasters, nurses will be called upon to provide aid and care utilizing
their unique skills, abilities, and understanding of the community. Without the
care provided by nurses, the community is likely not to fare well. To be effec-
tive, nurses must be prepared; this preparation includes education in relevant
disaster topics, skills acquired through hands-on practice, interaction with pre-
paredness procedures, and a firm understanding of local and regional capabili-
ties and resources.

DISASTER NURSING ADAPTABILITY: AUSTRALIAN TEAM

IN THE MALDIVES POST-TSUNAMI 2004
The ability to adapt is critical during disaster relief responses. Supplies may not be available and
improvisation to devise substitutes for infrequently used or unusual items may be required. Members of
the Australian Team’s relief response to the Maldives following the tsunami became creative in finding
alternative items for missing needed supplies. Some examples of their creativity include:
ã Using the large, rigid containers used to transport medical supplies as privacy screens and
walls between treatment areas in a temporary ED;

ã Using polyvinylchloride (PVC) body bags to store and transport sterile consumables to keep
them clean and dry in humid, tropical conditions;

ã Using 350 milliliter plastic water bottles as spacers for multi-dose inhalers used in the treatment
of salt-water pneumonitis; and

ã Using rigid plastic drink bottles as sharps containers at each patient’s bed area.
Jeffrey Williams

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REFERENCES
1. Sundes K, Birnbaum M:. Healthcare Disaster Management: Guidelines for Evaluation and
Research in the Utstein Style. World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine; Prehosp
Disaster Med 2003;17(3).
2. ICN Position Statement. Nurses and Disaster Preparedness. Available at www.icn.ch/
psdisasterprep01.htm. Accessed 07 March 2007.
3. Auf der Heide, E: The Importance of Evidence-based Disaster Planning. Ann Emerg Med
2006;47(1):34–40.

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