Evidence Based Practice in Disaster Planning Essay

Evidence Based Practice in Disaster Planning Essay

Public health surveillance is one way that public health officials target intervention strategies (Turlock, 2016). Often, it is through prompt recognition of and reporting of incidents of communicable disease that a disaster can be averted (Turlock, 2016). Surveillance activities often prompt questions such as, What is causing the disease? How is it spreading? And who is at risk (Turlock, 2016)? While it is true that preparedness planning cannot eliminate all traces of threat to a community, planning assures that medical services and treatment are deployed in an effective, efficient, and rapid manner (Turlock, 2016). Public health plays a vital role in coordination of providers, assurance of supplies particularly when the Strategic National Stockpile pharmaceuticals and supplies are required, and mobilization of state and national response systems. Public health officials may also provide health care services when required (Turlock, 2016).

Stanhope (2016) noted that evidence-based practice (EBP) has become more important in health care for many reasons: increased expectations of consumers, increased availability of information through the Internet, increased accountability for results, health care economic changes, and growing numbers of lawsuits, among other reasons. EBP is a lifelong problem-solving approach that regularly produces excellent results and often provides the theoretical underpinnings for programs to mitigate problems in the community. Once programs are in place, evaluation of their effectiveness should be conducted to determine whether they are worth the continued expenditure of resources. Use of EBP is vital to assure safe outcomes for populations during disasters, such as massive communicable disease outbreaks, and should be the foundation of disaster-planning strategies.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2016). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Chapter 15, “Evidence-Based Practice” (pp. 342–354)
Chapter 23, “Public Health Nursing Practice and the Disaster Management Cycle” (pp. 503–528)
Chapter 24, “Public Health Surveillance and Outbreak Investigation” (pp. 529–544)
Chapter 25, “Program Management” (pp. 545–567)

Laureate Education (Producer). (2009a). Family, community and population-based care: Emergency preparedness and disaster response in community health nursing [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
TED. (2012). How to step up in the face of disaster [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/caitria_and_morgan_o_neill_how_to_step_up_in_the_face_of_disaster
This Ted Talk describes the actions of two sisters who step up as leaders during a tornado disaster in their community.