Disaster Planning For Public Health

Assignment: Disaster Planning for Public Health

By Day 7 of Week 5

• 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).