Community Health Nursing
Task 4
Naomi Tashman
Western Governors University

Disaster Planning and Simulation

A. The Public Health Director is responsible for the actions of the personnel of public health. Under the director are 6 section chiefs that solely responds to him or her. Its goal is to create a public health incident command system center along with selecting designated chiefs and command staff. They’re asked to develop and implement strategies used to carry out their plan of action and to supervise their field resources. It’s imperative that the operations section chief have a solid background in the area and some type of experience in leadership. Along with these attributes, they assign and supervise the staff in the field. The Liaison Officer Chief is the point of contact for outside agencies. Their role provides briefings and therefore they would need the input from all of the other section chiefs. It usually comprises of community representatives and support agencies. This officer also has the ability of to protecting the director of public health and only refer what is needed up the chain of command. The Logistics Section Chief acquires the items needed to complete the task. Some of these objects include supplies, space, equipment, and other similar tools. In this role, an individual should at least be a novice in regards to communication skills and common knowledge. The finance/administrative section chief must have a background in proper financial processes. This person records resources, completes payroll and accounting for the predicament. They make sure all financial contracts are accurate. The Public Health Officer is responsible for a fair amount of tasks. It makes sure that the appropriate public information is given based on responses he or she receives from the field and other agencies. Along with this, they make sure that all public health staff is on the same page in terms of accuracy. The planning section chief oversees tasks. Based on the information received they create an incident action plan for the disaster. The information received is gathered, analyzed, and disseminated. The public health nurses role is associated with assessment and safety. He or she will respond to important messages in terms of medical emergencies. Secondly, their role is to assess the public’s health situation by conducting door to door evaluations for critical medical attention. Identifying areas of knowledge that require information disseminated to the public and public education regarding water and food safety after a disaster, support of families, and follow up with other resources such as the health of the environment. Checking for medical special needs such as effective prescription medication supplies or any equipment is required to help maintain life for all patients. B. The community health nurse is given directions from the Public Health Director. After the door to door assessment of needs the public health nurse reports back to the Emergency Operations Committee, specifically to the incident commander. C. The public health nurse has a wide array of resources available. A multidisciplinary taskforce is involved in the door to door public assessment. This involved a representative from the fire dept, a public works representative, and a public resource logistics representative. After the completion of the door to door safety assessment the nurse utilized other community resources such as the Environmental Health Dept. for a chemical spill. She also contacted the Social Work Department for an overwhelmed family and requested a translator for a Spanish speaking resident due to the language barrier of the family. D. A possible emergency situation was the spillage of paint, oil, and, solvents in the basement and shed of a residence. The nurse called the environmental health specialist to analyze the spillage and organize the cleanup. Another potentially dangerous situation was a homeowner that recently ran out of blood pressure medication. The nurse screened the client, took his blood pressure which was normal at the time and recommended him to move to a shelter. At the shelter he had reliable access to required medication and the medical supervision was efficient. An urgent situation occurred involving a communication barrier with a Spanish speaking woman. The nurse, using limited words and body movements was allowed into the house to analyze the safety of the house. Inside, she discovered a generator that wasn’t vented properly. She contacted a translator and obtained information in Spanish to explain how to assure adequate ventilation for the generator. In another situation, the nurse encountered an overwhelmed family with limited basic safety supplies. Besides recommending the family to move into the shelter for more stability and resources, she referred them to social services for a follow up visit.
E. To the convenience of the family, there was a public health hotline available. Many people used the line but had no idea if this was the appropriate place to call and they were reaching out for any assistance they could get. After disasters such as this, people still had ongoing difficulties and unresolved problems. Sometimes the frustration is so compelling due to the fact they feel no one is interested anymore. Recognizing that anger and frustration is not personal but very significant. The public health nurse specifically needs to have flexibility and resource knowledge as he or she fields hot line phone calls. The individual uses these skills to make referrals to other agencies. Another important element is the ability to stay calm in any situation whilst guiding the client through the description and assessment of the situation. Prioritization of needs is critical. Telephones are impersonal so the nurse should be able to open a line of communication and create a sense of trust early on in the midst of the conversation. She does this in the first call by using listening skills and empathy which makes the individual feel comfortable. Based on the information received, they need to use their assessment skills to determine the type of response needed. In the first example, even though the nurse scheduled a follow up visit, I think that they failed to fully assess the wife/mother enough to determine the urgency of the home visit. Reassurance is another important technique to calm individuals down. I think that this nurse could have been more reassuring in all 3 call examples. In the first call, the woman was uneasy and described her husband’s behavior along with the actions of her daughter’s. Based on the call, the husband could be suffering from depression and the daughter may be traumatized from the event. The nurse’s initial concern is safety and to evaluate how serious the husband’s depression is. She did this by asking the wife to describe his behavior. The nurse made a referral to the social work department along with planning a community nurse visit to the home. In another call, there was a concern for mold in the house. The nurse made a referral to the Environmental Health Dept. to come out and complete an assessment to make recommendations required for the situation. In the last call, it was a more urgent situation where it was clear that there was a chemical spill close to a soccer field. 911 was the immediate call to respond to the spill. F. In a larger flooding disaster many more nursing personnel would be required to participate in the response. In preparing for a disaster, the readiness plan for a large area type of possible disaster should be looked at first. Ongoing education should then be provided to groups of nurses that could respond to the disaster in the best way possible. The education should include health hazards, resources, critical assessments, disaster management, coordination, and more. Nurses in healthcare institutions should be required to learn about disaster preparedness. There is also a national nurse response team that can be mobilized to a disaster area. Another potential supply of nurses could be retired or non-working nurses. A communication system should be set up and these nurses should have assigned areas to respond to. (Clark.2008). References

Clark, M., 2008, 5th edition. Community health nursing, advocacy for population health. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, Prentice Hall.