Emergency nurses and disaster response: An exploration of South Australian emergency nurses’ knowledge and perceptions of their roles in disaster response.

Data was analyzed using sum, percentage, frequency distributions and measures of central tendency. Thematic analysis was also used for the analysis of all the open ended and short answer questions.

Questionnaire

Three main themesPrevious disaster response experienceDisaster education and trainingDisaster knowledge

A mixed method approach underpins this study. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected through a self report questionnaire.The questionnaire incorporated five main areas of questioning; demographics, knowledge, awareness, previous  disaster response experience and roles of nurses in disasters.

A total of 588 questionnaires were circulated, 194 were returned resulting in a response rate of 32.9%.Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected.As data was collected it was entered verbatim onto a Microsoft Excel database. Missing responses from the data were also noted in the database.

The study explores South Australian (SA) emergency nurses’ knowledge and preparedness for disaster response in the acute setting.

The findings discuss the type of disaster education and training that nurses have completed but fail to determine exactly what the stated education or training involves.

The study demonstrates that South Australian emergency nurses have not received appropriate or consistent disaster education and training. These may be factors contributing to an overall low level of disaster knowledge and confusion regarding local policies and practice, amongst South Australian emergency nurses.

Approval to conduct the proposed research was initially sought from individual department heads, Clinical Service Coordinators and Nurse Managers. Ethics approval was then gained from research committees representing each of the eight different sites.

This study was conducted with the aim of enhancing thecurrent body of knowledge regarding emergency nurses anddisaster response. It was anticipated that the study wouldprovide a foundation for further research into determiningwhat type of disaster education and training would benefitemergency nurses.