Author Archives: Roberta Lavin

Nurses on the Frontline Caring for Patients with COVID-19

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Please email Rachel Taylor at ractaylor@health.unm.edu to get more information or to schedule an appointment.

 Researchers at the University of New Mexico are inviting you to take part in a survey and phone or audio/visual interview about your experiences caring for people with COVID-19. We are recruiting nurses from different parts of the country and in different healthcare settings, and from different clinical areas, including inpatient psychiatry. You have been identified through publicly available sources or by using existing contacts in emergency management agencies or hospitals within and outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs at local, regional, and national levels. 

 This project is part of an ongoing effort, a Nursing Call to Action, started by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) in 2014 to improve nursing readiness and to provide leadership and guidance to health care facilities and systems regarding issues related to high consequence infections (pandemics) and the provision of nursing care. The objectives of this pilot study are to: 1) Understand the experiences of nurses providing care to patients with COVID-19, 2) Examine nurses’ perceptions of organizational strategies to best support nursing response and practice during disaster (e.g., unit/local/facility policies implementing crisis standards of care, provision of personal protective equipment, support for personal preparedness), and 3) Examine nurses’ perceptions of policies (e.g., organizational, local, county, state or federal) that support or hinder nursing response. 

Nurses who have experienced caring for patients with COVID-19 and related issues of personal protective equipment, crisis standards of care, personal preparedness and family issues, stresses of caring for seriously ill patients with a highly infectious disease and for those in the critical care areas dealing with high rates of patient mortality, have the potential to identify local and systems factors that contributed to what helped support the nurses and their ability to provide care and what did not. 

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Disaster Preparedness Survey – Please consider completing

Thank you for agreeing to post our request to participate in our research titled,

“Assessing nurses’ and APNs’ Competence, Confidence, and Willingness to Respond to Public Health Emergencies After Learning Management System (LMS) Delivered Intervention: A Quantitative Study.”

We have provided 8 learning modules that explain the ICN’s Core Competencies in Disaster Nursing, Version 2.0. There is no cost to participants.

It is important that all participants follow the prompts to create an account in the Learning Management System as a first step.

To access the Learning Modules, click on: https://nsbprepared.lmscheckout.com/

Sincerely,

Joanne C. Langan, PhD, RN, CNE Professor, Saint Louis University, Valentine School of Nursing

Karen S. Moore, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, FNP-C, FAANP, FAAN Associate Professor, Saint Louis University, Valentine School of Nursing

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Disaster nursing online survey: What are the nursing research priorities for disaster management?

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Dear nursing practitioners/educators/scholars/leaders, 

We are conducting a questionnaire survey to understand and evaluate the nursing research priorities for disaster management. In this research, we define disaster management as the organization, planning and application of measures preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters that are relevant to nursing priorities. Information regarding your knowledge and experience relevant to nursing research for disaster management, and basic sociodemographic information will be collected. The questionnaire should take only approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. 

The information collected in this questionnaire is solely for the purposes of research. All the data analyses will be carried out anonymously and all the data collected will be kept confidential. This project has been reviewed and approved by the human subjects ethics committee of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Ref. HSEARS20210304002). 

Now, you can click the link https://www.polyu.edu.hk/pfs/index.php/898585?lang=en or scan the QR Code to start the survey!  Your response by 12 May 2021 will be greatly appreciated. 

You have been identified as one of the key persons contributing to disaster nursing, however, we may not have access or missed out other colleagues who have made significant contributions in disaster nursing. We, hereby, request for your assistant to forward this invitation email to these colleagues in your contact.  We will appreciate this very much. 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Chunlan Guo (email: chunlan.guo@polyu.edu.hk). 

Thank you for your attention. 

Regards, 

Professor Alex Molassiotis, RN, PhD 

Professor Alice Loke, RN, PhD 

Principal Investigators 

COVID-19: Were we Preapred?

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Author: Ron Hilliard, MSN, RN

My name is Ron Hilliard, MSN, RN and I have dedicated much of my career to disaster preparedness and nurses being ready to respond. The COVID-19 pandemic put a whole different perspective on being ready for a major event. I am driven to understand the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred early this year and I would like to invite a discussion with nurses from the field to understand what they experienced and how we can work together to strengthen our response.

In 2001, I was detailed to establish and manage the HRSA Hospital Preparedness Program to respond to Bioterrorism in Texas under the Texas Department of State Health Services. For over 5 years there was a great deal of federal funding pushed into state public health to prepare for bioterrorism. This included training and equipping health care and public health to be ready if something happened. Great strides were made in expanding public health capabilities and health care, specifically hospitals, being able to handle surge if a biological outbreak occurred. This took a lot of time and effort by many to get to a point we felt like we were ready. Yet, it seems we have had to start all over to prepare for a large-scale disease outbreak while the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving. 

That raises a lot of questions. How did it have a direct effect on nurses? Please share what you have experienced from the aspect of being prepared for this event.

  • What did you, as a nurse, experience in being personally ready for the COVID-19 outbreak and your response to the pandemic?
  • What advice can you give to other nurses, especially those new nurses that are struggling with entering the profession and facing a major disease outbreak at the same time?

It was 20 years ago that states started preparedness efforts for such events. Over the years, we had no major events that pushed us to fall back on those preparations and the readiness posture fell off the radar with the effort to sustain those preparations not staying as a priority. The result was we were not ready for a large-scale event. We first saw the gap in preparation for a biological event with the Ebola incident in Dallas that occurred in 2017. A large number of personnel that led these initial efforts have all pretty much retired and the historical experience has been lost.

I hope we can take this opportunity to learn from each other and promote activities that will make us stronger.

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What Nurses Need to Know about the Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

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We have all been hearing about the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China for a few weeks and like most Americans were probably not too worried until it was shown to be able to spread by person to person contact. As of today, there are 5 known cases in the United States with over 2700 cases and 81 deaths in China alone. Since December the virus has spread to France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.

How it Spreads

It is not fully known how coronaviruses are spread or if there will be a sustained person to person spread. Currently, China is reporting sustained person to person spread. In the U.S. there are no reports of sustained person to person spread, but if it does occur then it would be possible to see such cases in hospitals and clinics.

How easily a disease spread is of equal importance. For example, measles is highly contagious and spreads easily. CDC list the immediate risk for the coronavirus as low.

Symptoms

Symptoms may appear between 2 and 14 days after exposure. The most common symptoms are:

  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath

Prevention and Treatment

The prevention recommendations at this time are the same as they would be for the flu or other respiratory illness.

  1. Wash your hands often.
  2. Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth if you haven’t washed your hands.
  3. Avoid close contact with sick people
  4. Stay home if you are sick.
  5. Cover your cough.
  6. Clean surfaces and things you touch often.

Treatment is supportive. There is no specific antiviral treatment at this time.

For More Information

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Research Request from Disaster Nursing Researchers

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Hello!

We are nurse researchers who are interested in exploring the experiences of nurses who have volunteered for more than one disaster relief effort. Much of the research highlights the negative personal effects resulting from disaster relief volunteerism. We are conducting a small qualitative study in the hopes of having a better understanding of the reasons why so many nurses continue to volunteer after their initial disaster relief deployment.

If you are a registered nurse and have participated in more than one disaster relief effort, we invite you to participate!

Data collection will be through phone interviews, which will take approximately 30 minutes. No names will be used in the reporting of the data and the information you provide will be kept strictly confidential.

Please email or call if you are interested in participating. We are happy to answer any additional questions you may have!

Thank you,

Stacy Christensen DNP, APRN christensenste@ccsu.edu 860-463-2964

Linda Wagner EdD, RN lwagner9092@gmail.com 860-965-7665

Melissa Masse APRN mcaprn@gmail.com 860-748-0070

 

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Zika and Flint Water Public Health Emergencies: Disaster Training Tool Kits Relevant to Pregnant Women and Children

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 2019 Jun 20. doi: 10.1097/JPN.0000000000000418. [Epub ahead of print]
Lavin RP1, Veenema TG, Langan JC, Charney RL, Zimmerman RS, Bender A.

Abstract

Pregnant women and children and individuals suffering from chronic illness are disproportionally impacted by public health emergencies. To meet the healthcare needs of these populations, the nursing workforce must be capable of responding in a timely and appropriate manner. The goal of this project was to create interactive and engaging evidence-based educational tool kits to advance healthcare provider readiness in the management of population health in response to the Zika and Flint Water crises. A multipronged, mixed-methods approach was used to identify essential education needs and required core competencies. Data were synthesized from discussion with key informants, review of relevant documents, and surveys of schools of nursing, public health, and medicine. The ADDIE model was used to integrate results into the development of the online learning tool kits using the ThingLink software program. An innovative online educational program to prepare healthcare providers to rapidly identify, mitigate, and manage the impact of the Zika and Flint Water crises upon pregnant women and children was implemented by the Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing. Innovative online learning tool kits can advance healthcare provider readiness by increasing knowledge and understanding of key components of specific public health emergencies.

PMID: 31233449

 

DOI:  10.1097/JPN.0000000000000418
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Disaster Nursing: From Theory to Practice

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By: Cole Edmonson DNP, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC, FAAN

It’s been just over two and a half years that the SADN Practice workgroup has been meeting monthly under the guidance of the SADN organizational structure.  The Practice workgroup has included a consistent and engaged team of a dozen nurse colleagues, who have dedicated not only their time but their talents as well. Many of the members have experience responding to major disasters, teaching disaster education and are compelled to communicate their experience in ways that strengthen and support our national nursing workforce in preparedness, response, and prevention to various disasters.

As described by a collective group of disaster nursing experts (Veenema et.al 2016), the focus of the Practice workgroup is to achieve actionable steps towards the following recommendations:

Practice 1.1 Health care and related organizations support clinical nursing practice during disasters to reflect crisis standards of care and address common barriers to the willingness of nurses to respond to a disaster.

Practice 1.2 Establish a collective effort among nurse leaders to advance the practice of disaster nursing and public health emergency preparedness and response.

Practice members have delivered 7 presentations during the past two years for the national, county and local audiences on a range of topics that include; a disaster nursing call-to-action, personal preparedness, psychological resilience and the role of information technology in disaster preparedness. Six of our members were invited by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) to provide the evaluation for a mass casualty disaster drill during the 2017 ENA annual convention in St Louis, MO. We are currently working with the Girl Scouts to develop a disaster preparedness badge that could be integrated into the activities of the Girl Scout STEM camps and disseminated nationally. The promotion of personal preparedness serves as the cornerstone of most of our activities and we have identified the following website to use as a resource: https://dallascityhall.com/departments/officeemergencymanagement/Pages/Make-a-Plan.aspx

This past year we welcomed five new members: Including the transition of the chair position.

Cole Edmonson, D.N.P., R.N., FACHE, NEA-BC ( Chair ), June 2018

Chief Clinical Officer, AMN Healthcare

Kimberly K. Hatchel, DNP, MHA, RN, CENP, August 2018

Market CNO/Senior VP, Lexington One Health

Melinda Hirshouer, DNP, RN, MBA, MHSM, June 2018

Director of Inpatient Rehabilitation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas

Laurie G. Combe, MN, RN, NCSN

President-Elect, National Association of School Nurses

Nicole “Nikki” M. Ward, Maj, USAF, NC

HAF Junior Nurse Executive Fellow

Office of the Surgeon General

Medical Force Development (SG1/8AN)

We are honored to be part of the larger SADN group.  The work and success of each workgroup excite and motivates us to accomplish more.  We are all driven by a common purpose to assure nurses are prepared to competently and safely respond and lead in disaster scenarios.

 

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