Natural or Man-Made Disaster Essay

Select a potential natural or man-made disaster that could happen in
>    your community. Then, write a 3- to 4-page paper about the disaster from
>    the community nurse’s perspective.
>
> Section 1: The Disaster, Man-Made or Natural
>
>    – What disasters may strike your community and why? For example, do you
>    live in “Tornado Alley,” or has climate change resulted in unusual cold
>    weather snaps or blizzards in your community? Are you located in a flood
>    plain? Include possible diseases that may result from a natural
> disaster,
>    such as tetanus or cholera.
>
> Section 2: The Nursing Response
>
>    – Formulate responses to the disaster, considering systems and community
>    levels of intervention.
>    – Review websites where a disaster plan may be available for the public,
>    or if one is not currently available, call public health department to
> see
>    if a disaster plan exists for your community and what the plan contains.
>    – In addition to reviewing websites for information about your local
>    disaster plan, you will need to locate best practice/evidence-based
>    practice guidelines in professional literature to determine whether your
>    community’s disaster plan is as sound as it might be or if there is room
>    for improvement.
>
> Section 3: Is My Community Prepared for a Disaster?
>
>    – What conclusions can you draw about your community’s preparedness plan
>    from having completed this evaluation?
>
>
> Week 4: Evidence-Based Practice in Disaster Planning: Nurses as Leaders
>
>    – 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.
>
>
> Required Readings
>
> 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)
>
> Required Media
>
>    – 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.