Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing

AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES & DISEASE REGISTRY (ATSDR)/CDC offers free courses along with continuing education credits* on topics related to disaster nursing. Visit the website at https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.html
Courses include Taking an Exposure History: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=33&po=0

*Continuing Nursing Education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation (ANCC)

According to their website: ‘ATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM) are self-instructional, continuing-education primers designed to increase primary care providers’ knowledge of hazardous substances and aid in the evaluation of patients potentially exposed to hazardous substances. Each CSEM comes with additional companion products such as Grand Rounds in Environmental Medicine and Patient Education/Care Instruction Sheets.’

Check out the CMS website which provides numerous resources and guidelines related to emergency preparedness in the United States

Below is a sample of what you will find on the website:

Mission

Enable Federal, State, Tribal, Regional, and local governmental agencies, and health care providers to respond to every emergency in a timely, collaborative, organized, and effective manner.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Survey and Certification Group (SCG) has developed this site to provide useful information to CMS Central and Regional Offices, State Survey Agencies (SAs), their State, Tribal, Regional, and local emergency management partners, and health care providers, for developing effective and robust emergency plans and responses.

This Web site provides information and tools, utilizing an “all hazards” approach for disruptive events such as:
• Pandemic flu (e.g., H1N1 influenza virus)
• Hurricanes
• Tornados
• Fires
• Earthquakes
• Power outages
• Chemical spills
• Nuclear or biological terrorist attack
• Etc.

This Web site provides “one-stop shopping” to obtain both mandated and voluntary emergency preparedness information and tools.

The Web site will be updated regularly to provide helpful guidance regarding issues such as:
• Clarifying the roles, responsibilities and actions of CMS Central and Regional Survey & Certification (S&C) Offices.
• Clarifying the roles, responsibilities, and actions of SAs.
• Effective emergency planning across all health care provider types to ensure the well-being of vulnerable populations – whether in long-term care, acute care, or community-based facilities — during a disruptive event.

This year’s deadline for ARC Conference Call for Abstract submissions has been extended to August 31! Please go to http://www.arc4em.org/call-for-abstracts to learn more and to submit.

Check out the updated 3-day Joint Conference agenda, including panel session descriptions and speakers, by visiting http://www.arc4em.org/events-meetings/agenda.

2017 ARC Conference
Mark your calendar! This year’s Annual Conference—in conjunction with the National Healthcare Coalition Resource Center’s 6th Annual National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference—will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina on November 28-30.

 

 

Report on the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Biennial Congress in Barcelona, Spain

By
Mary Pat Couig, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) held its biennial Congress in Barcelona, Spain, 27 May – 1 June 2017. Founded in 1899, ICN is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations and represents over 16 million nurses globally. ICN’s website is: http://www.icn.ch

This year’s conference theme, Nurses at the Forefront Transforming Care, provided a framework for presentations, discussions, and posters on issues affecting nurses and patient care around the globe: health care systems, sustainable health care, conflicts and disasters, safety and quality in the workplace and professional practice and innovative policies. The full program can be found at: http://www.icnbarcelona2017.com/en

On Monday 29 May, Mr. Ian Norton, Dr. Pilar Fernandez and Professor Aiko Yamamoto presented on disaster preparedness, response and resilience. Mr. Norton presented on the World Health Organization’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Initiative. The EMT initiative assists organizations and member states to build infrastructure and strengthen health systems with quality approved medical teams in emergencies. This initiative is focused on helping countries develop their own teams who can respond quickly. The EMT website is: http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/preparedness/emergency_medical_teams/en/

Professor Yamamoto provided an update on the Disaster Nursing Global Leader Degree Program, a collaborative between 5 universities in Japan. The goal of the program is to develop global disaster nursing leaders to ensure human security. Professor Yamamoto gave an overview of the past achievements and future work in the areas of long-term recovery, community-based resiliency, comprehensive family oriented approaches, disaster ethics, and new practices. More information can be found at the website: http://www.u-hyogo.ac.jp/cnas/english/dngl/

Congratulations to Ms. Annette Kennedy, ICN’s new president.

Photo: Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MS, MPH, RN, FAAN and Mary Pat Couig, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN. SADN poster presentation.

The recent issue of Nursing Administration Quarterly focuses on disaster preparedness and recovery and addresses a wide range of perspectives related to preparedness, nursing education, nurse leadership, informatics, and the emotional impacts on nurses who have experienced disasters.

Many of the authors of the various articles play a significant role in leading SADN efforts to advance the vision for the future of disaster nursing in the United States. This scholarly collaboration highlights the many facets related to disaster nursing and the need to continue efforts to advance research, nursing practice, education, policy, and dissemination (technology and communications) initiatives in this area.

Congratulations to the following from SADN who contributed to this important publication:

Mary Pat Couig, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

Alicia Gable, MPH

Anne Griffin, MPH, BSN, RN

Joanne C. Langan, PhD, RN, CNE

Judith R. Katzburg, PhD, MPH, RN

Kelly A. Wolgast, DNP, RN, FACHE, FAAN

Kristine Qureshi, PhD, RN, FAAN, CEN, APHN-BC

Aram Dobalian, PhD, JD, MPH

Roberta Proffitt Lavin, PhD, RN, APRN-BC, FAAN

Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, RN, MS, MPH, FAAN

Brenda Baird Simpson, DNP, RN, CENP

To gain access to this important collection of articles, please visit Nursing Administration Quarterly at the following link:

 

April/June 2017, Vol. 41, Iss. 2

[Issue: Volume 41(2), April/June 2017, p 99–100. Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. Publication Type: [Guest Editorial]. DOI: 10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000217. ISSN: 0363-9568. Accession: 00006216-201704000-00002.]

Blog Author: Kelly A. Wolgast, DNP, RN, FACHE, FAAN

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) recently highlighted the top five research abstracts that will be presented at AORN’s Global Surgical Conference & Expo (April 1-5 | Boston, MA) in a note entitled 5 Research Posters That Will Wow You!  Among those highlighted was VEMEC’s abstract Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response – A Call to Action by lead author Anne “Belle” Griffin.  Congratulations to Anne “Belle” Griffin, a leader in the Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing, on this well-deserved recognition!  To read more about Belle’s abstract, the Call to Action, and VEMEC, please visit the VEMEC website.

With U.S. numbers exceeding 3.1 million, registered nurses comprise the largest group of professionals in the healthcare workforce (Henry J. Kaiser Website, 2017, NACNEP (2009)). Research indicates that the nursing workforce is inadequately prepared to respond to major disasters (NACNEP (2009), Baack and Alfred (2013)). To begin addressing this capability shortfall, the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) seeks to advance the practice of disaster nursing, and in 2014 initiated a national Call to Action. As a result of VEMEC efforts, a group of subject matter experts held a series of meetings to develop a vision for the future of disaster nursing and to plan a workshop, which was attended by 70 participants, in an effort to further refine the vision and to identify the steps needed to achieve their goals (Veenema et al (2016)). Ongoing collective efforts culminated in plans to launch a new organization: Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing (SADN).

In December of 2016, the first national leadership planning meeting for SADN was held at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, MD. Presentations included summaries of the work to date of the five SADN workgroups (Policy, Practice, Education, Research, and Dissemination). The keynote speaker was Sally Philips, PhD, RN, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Keynote Sally Philips, PhD, RN

Dr. Philips provided a critical perspective on the future role of nurses in disaster preparedness, response. and recovery for the near term.

We were also privileged to hear a talk by Paul B. Spiegel, MD, MPH, Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who gave a compelling presentation entitled ‘The Syrian Conflict and its effect on the future of Humanitarian Action’.

During the afternoon session, the meeting attendees broke into groups to develop key recommendations for SADN’s strategic plan and outline activities for each of the five SADN workgroups moving forward. Discussions also revolved around the newly forming society’s values as well as next steps, including formalizing SADN as a 501c3 nonprofit entity.

Stay tuned for more exciting developments regarding our efforts to advance the practice of disaster nursing!

References:

1. Total Number of Professionally Active Nurses, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Webpage ( kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-registered-nurses/?currentTimeframe=0),  Downloaded 2-7-17.
2. National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP), Challenges Facing the Nurse Workforce in a Changing Environment, Seventh Annual Report to Secretary of U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress, March 2009.
3. Baack, S and Alfred, D, (2013). Nurses’ Preparedness and Perceived Competence in Managing Disasters. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 45(3): 281-287
4. Veenema, TG, Griffin, A, Gable, AR et al (2016). Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response–A Call to Action. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48 (2):187-200.

Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing (SADN) was well represented at the ARC conference that took place in Washington, D.C. in December, 2016. Many of our leaders participated in the two day conference. An enthusiastic audience attended our excellent panel presentation during the breakout sessions. Aram Dobalian (Director, Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) moderated the session entitled Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response: A Call to Action.

SADN leaders who presented included:

Mary Pat Couig, Program Manager of Office of Nursing Services, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Anne Griffin, Senior Program Manager, Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center

Roberta Proffitt Lavin, Associate Dean for Academic Programs College of Nursing, University of Missouri–St Louis

Tener Goodwin Veenema, Associate Professor of School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University; President and CEO, Tener Consulting Group LLC

According to the conference website:

“ARC Conference is an annual event for interdisciplinary professionals with in an interest in disaster/emergency planning and recovery efforts to:

• Learn how to provide timely access to high-quality care in disasters and emergencies;
• Participate in interactive sessions, plenaries, and workshops;
• Identify gaps and sets priorities for the field of emergency management;
• Discuss and share recommendations and lessons learned with peers and partners; and
• Attend networking gatherings to expand professional networks.”

The 2017 ARC Conference will take place in San Diego, California

To learn more, visit the ARC conference website: ARC

AGENDA

DAY 1 Wednesday December 14^th 2016

6:00-8:30pm Panel discussion on the CTA Project

Carpenter Room 6-9pm, Reception, JHSON Alumni Development Office.

DAY 2 Thursday December 15^th 2016 

Morning Closed Session, By Invitation only

8:00-8:30am Continental Breakfast at JHSON

8:30-10:15am Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing (SADN) Leadership Working Meeting

• Welcome and Meeting Overview
• Acknowledgement of VEMEC
• Introductions
• Business Meeting Call to Order
• Respond to Draft Strategic Plan
• Brief
  presentations from national subcommittees
• Discussion: Conduct the preliminary business of launching the new organization

10:15-10:30am Break

10:30-10:45am Welcome Remarks, Dean and Professor Patricia Davidson

10:45-12:00pm Small workgroups

12:00-1:00pm Conference Keynote Presentation

Sally Phillips, R.N, PhDMain Content

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Afternoon Closed Session, By Invitation only

1:15 Boxed lunches served -Carpenter Room

1:30-2:00pm Future Directions, Presentation, Closing Remarks

• Disaster Nursing and Humanitarian Health, Paul Spiegel

2:00-2:45pm Present strategic plan; get feedback from attendees

• Discuss regarding optimizing partnerships

2:45-3:00pm Closing remarks