NR443 Week 5 Discussion, Disaster and Communicable Disease Preparedness

Week 5: Disaster and Communicable Disease Preparedness Preparing for disasters or communicable disease outbreaks is an important part of public health nursing. Visit the website . Review the steps for being prepared for a disaster. • As a community health nurse, what elements do you think are important to stress to the community? • How well is your community prepared for a potential outbreak or disaster? Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2014). Ready: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. Retrieved from BEGIN: Instructor Droter and Classmates, As healthcare providers, we play a central role in dealing with disasters whether natural, disease outbreaks, or internal disasters within the hospital. All healthcare professionals are called to action from hospital care to community reach. Community health nurses play significant role in minimizing the effects of such disasters before they occur as partners in assessing, planning, and evaluating emergency preparedness plans. Nies and McEwen (2015) identifies a public health emergency occurring when the health consequences of a decision have the potential to overwhelm routine community capabilities to address them” (p. 558). The elements of the preparedness plan include activities from assessing current capabilities to assuring the provision of emergency medical treatment and prophylaxis (Federal Emergency). Providing the community with information to aid in personal preparedness and recovery efforts gives the community confidence and empowers unity. I believe informing the community via media efforts and the internet would be effective in my community. Communities should be informed of current initiatives and if shortages in systems exist. When communities are aware of deficits in safety programs the residents can unite to fill the gaps. Further when communities are educated on emergency response plans there are better outcomes for preventing secondary public health emergencies from fallout. The City of Streetsboro emergency preparedness information is easily accessible on the city's website. The Portage County Emergency Management Agency has a link on the Portage County website and a phone app called Portage Ohio Prepares. The site has a Tornado Safety and Preparedness for the general public and schools. On March 23 there was a countywide tornado preparedness drill. The Portage Ohio Prepares site also has severe weather and winter preparedness information, fire safety including carbon dioxide information and videos, earthquake safety information, toxic substances in home, and general health information. The website also provides links to other official sites to prepare for emergencies and disasters. Schools run quarterly mock-codes and hold assemblies discussing both school and home safety. School nurses play an executive and operational role in emergency preparedness with a new focus on violence (CCN, 2016). Carole B. Reference Chamberlain College of Nursing. (2016). Week 5 lesson: Managing populations health problems. [Online Lesson]. Downers Grove, IL: DeVry Education Group Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2014). Ready: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. Retrieved from Nies, M. A., & McEwen, M. (2015). Community/Public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier. Portage County Emergency Management. (2016). Tornado safety: Practice to make that life-saving decision. Retrieved from