The document discusses disaster nursing, defining disaster and its characteristics, stages of disaster management, and the critical role of triage during emergencies. It outlines the phases of disaster response—from mitigation to recovery—and emphasizes the importance of community health nurses in disaster preparedness and recovery efforts. Additionally, it details the responsibilities of various sectors, including government agencies and voluntary organizations, in managing disasters and the psychological needs of victims.

1. SEMINAR
ON
DISASTER NURSING
KULTHE VIKRANT RATNAKAR
M SC NURSING ( MENTAL HEALTH)

2. Meaning of Disaster (Alphabetically means) :-
1. D:-Distructions
2. I:-Incident
3. S:-Sufferings
4. A:-Administrative, Financial failures
5. S:-Sentiments
6. T:-Tragedies
7. E:-Eruption of communicable disease
8. R:-Research programme and its implementation

3. DEFINITIONS
A disaster can be defined as “any occurrence
that causes damage, ecological disruption,
loss of human life or deterioration of health
services on a scale sufficient to warrant an
extra ordinary response from outside the
affected community or area”.
[K. PARK

4. Definition:
Disaster is an event capable of
causing widespread destruction
due to the various forces of
nature.
[DR. SRIDHAR RAO]

5. CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTER:
 Disaster have different characteristics. Knowledge of these variables
necessary in disaster management and planning. The characteristics are:
 Predictability
 Controllability
 Speed of onset
 Length of fore warning
 Duration of impact
 Scope and intensity of impact

6. STAGES OF A DIASASTER MANAGEMENT
1. Non-disaster or inter disaster stage
2. Pre-disaster or worming stage
3. Impact stage
4. Emergency stage
5. Rehabilitation stage


7. PREVENTIVE MEASURES:
 Prevention of removal of hazard e.g. Closing down an aging industrial
facility that cannot implement safety regulation
 Removal of at risk population from hazard eg. Resettling communities
away from flood prone areas.
 Provision of public information and education e.g. To provide a
information that the public can take to protect themselves during a
tornado.
 Establishment of early warning systems eg. Using a satellite data, and
some another to provide information to community.
 Mitigation of vulnerabilities: e.g. sensor to check the flood
 Enhancement of a local community capacity to respond : its include
health department, hospitals, clinic and home care agencies.

8. CHARACTERISTICS OF DISASTER PLAN:
 A disaster plan based on realistic assessment of potential problem
that can happen such as destruction of health facilities and
alternative agency use are included in plan.
 The plan is brief concise and inclusive of all who can provide disaster
aid.
 The plan organized by the timeline:it details the stages of disaster,
who must be involved , what must occurs and how each stage unfolds
throughout the disaster process.
 The plan is regularly tested through mock drills and revised based on
drill results.
 The plan is always considered a work in progress because needs an
resources in community relative to disaster preparedness change
constantly.

10. PHASES OF DISASTER
A) MITIGATION
 Mitigation involves steps to reduce vulnerability to disaster impacts
such as injuries and loss of life and property. This might involve
changes in local building codes to fortify buildings;
B. PREPAREDNESS
Preparedness focuses on understanding how a disaster might impact
the community and how education, outreach and training can build
capacity to respond to and recover from a disaster.

11. C. RESPONSE PHASE
Response addresses immediate threats presented by the disaster,
including saving lives, meeting humanitarian needs (food, shelter, clothing,
public health and safety), clean up, damage assessment, and the start of
resource distribution.
TRIAGE:
“Triage is a process which places the right patient in the right place at the
right time to receive the right level of care” (Rice & Abel, 1992).
Triage is a French word meaning “sorting” or categorizing”. The term first
came in to use during World War 1 which casualties were sorted during
battle.

12. NEED OF THE DISASTER TRIAGE
 1. Inadequate resource to meet immediate needs
 2. Infrastructure limitations

3. Inadequate hazard preparation

4. Limited transport capabilities
 5. Multiple agencies responding
6. Hospital Resources Overwhelmed

13. AIMS OF TRIAGE:
 1. To sort patients based on needs for immediate care
2. To recognize futility
3. Medical needs will outstrip the immediately
available resources
4. Additional resources will become available given
enough time.

14. THE MAIN PRINCIPLES OF TRIAGE ARE AS
FOLLOWS: –
 1. Every patient should receive and triaged by
appropriate skilled health-care professionals.
 2. Triage is a clinic-managerial decision and must
involve collaborative planning.
 3. The triage process should not cause a delay in the
delivery of effective clinical care.

15. ADVANTAGES OF TRIAGE:
 1. Helps to bring order and organization to a chaotic scene.
 2. It identifies and provides care to those who are in greatest need
 3. Helps make the difficult decisions easier
 4. Assure that resources are used in the most effective manner
 5. May take some of the emotional burden away from those doing triage

16. TYPES OF TRIAGE:
 There are two types of triage:
1. Simple triage
2. Advanced triage
 1.Simple triage
Simple triage is used in a scene of mass casualty, in order to sort
patients into those who need critical attention and immediate transport
to the hospital and those with less serious injuries.
This step can be started before transportation becomes available.

17.  Triage separates the injured into four groups:
0 – The deceased who are beyond help
1 – The injured who can be helped by immediate transportation
2 – The injured whose transport can be delayed
3 – Those with minor injuries, who need help less urgently
2.Advanced triage:
 In advanced triage, doctors may decide that some seriously injured
people should not receive advanced care because they are unlikely to
survive.
 Advanced care will be used on patients with less severe injuries.
Because treatment is intentionally withheld from patients with
certain injuries, advanced triage has an ethical implication.

18. ADVANCED TRIAGE CATEGORIES:


19.  Red tags - (immediate) are used to label those who cannot survive without immediate
treatment but who have a chance of survival.
 Yellow tags - (observation) for those who require observation (and possible later re-
triage). Their condition is stable for the moment and, they are not in immediate danger
of death. These victims will still need hospital care and would be treated immediately
under normal circumstances.
 Green tags - (wait) are reserved for the "walking wounded" who will need medical care
at some point, after more critical injuries have been treated.
 White tags - (dismiss) are given to those with minor injuries for whom a doctor's care is
not required.
 Black tags - (expectant) are used for the deceased and for those whose injuries are so
extensive that they will not be able to survive given the care that is available.

20. RECOVERY PHASE :
 Recovery is the fourth phase of disaster and is the restoration of
all aspects of the disaster’s impact on a community and the
return of the local economy to some sense of normalcy. By this
time, the impacted region has achieved a degree of physical,
environmental, economic and social stability.

21. E .EVALUATION:
 It is the phase of disaster planning and response that often
receives the least attention. After a disaster, it is essential that
evaluation be concluded to determine what work vs what did
work and what specific problems, issues and challenges were
identified. Future disaster planning need to be based on
empirical evidence derived from previous disaster.

23. IMPACT OF DISASTER
 Effect on human beings: Disaster gives rise to death and injuries of
varying severity. Some of the survivors exhibit pain, depression and
other psychological reactions.
 Other effects: Cattle, dogs, and other animals suffer injuries. Trees
and standing crops are either destroyed or damaged. Roads, rails,
bridges, buildings, and telecommunication installations are damaged.
Transportation, power supply, internet and telephone services are
disrupted.

26. AGENCIES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT
national disaster
response
network
local
government
state
government
private
sectore
voluntary
organization
international
sources
fedral
government

28. 1 .LOCAL GOVERNMENT
 Develop, review and assess effective disaster management
practices
 Help local government to prepare a local disaster
management plan
 Ensure the community knows how to respond in a disaster
 Identify and coordinate disaster resources
 Manage local disaster operations

29. 2.Role of the State Government during a
Disaster
 In the State level disaster management it is the responsibility of the Chief
Minister or the
 Chief Secretary of the State.
 ● All decisions on relief operations are taken by them.
 ● Work is further delegated to the Relief Commissioner who is in charge of
relief and
 rehabilitation measures.
 ● He functions under the directive of the State level committee.
 ● The Secretary of the Department of Revenue is sometimes in charge of
relief
measures.

31. 3.PREIVATE SECTER OF DISASTER ROLE
:
 The private sector contributes to disaster recovery
financing in a variety of ways, including playing a key role
in early response and long-term recovery, collaborating
with the public sector in public–private partnerships,
driving innovation and facilitating technology use, helping
smaller communities manage influxes of funds, and
supplementing federal disbursement processes.

32. 4.ROLE OF VOLUNTARY DEPATMENT:
 Voluntary organizations in the United States of America,
have provided organized services to disaster survivors
beginning with the volunteer fire department established
by Benjamin Franklin in 1736. Since those early
beginnings, voluntary organizations providing disaster
services have grown in numbers and added new and
diverse services to survivors. Voluntary organizations
provide services to survivors from early response activities
including mass care, volunteer management, and debris
removal through long-term recovery.

33. 5.ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL SECTORS:
 Scenarios setting and contingency planning process
 Training emergency support staff and standby personnel
 Creating ready access to relief supplies in the form of
stockpiles or stand-by arrangements
 with suppliers
 Standby arrangements for transport

34. NURSES RESPONSIBILITY IN A DISASTER
 DISASTER NURSING DEFINITION
“Disaster nursing can be defined as the adaptation of a
professional nursing skills in recognizing and meeting then
nursing, physical, and emotional needs resulting from a
disaster.”

35. PRINCIPLES:
 There are eight fundamental principles that should be followed by
all who have a responsibility for helping the victims of a disaster
 Prevent the occurrence of the disaster whenever possible.
 Minimize the number of causalities if the disaster cannot be
prevented.
 Prevent further causalities from occurring after the initial impact of
the disaster rescue then victims.
 Provide first aid to the injured.
 Evacuate the injured to the medical facilities
 Provide definitive medical care

36. A.ROLE OF NURSE IN PREPAREDNESS
 PERSONAL PREPAREDNESS
Complete this checklist

 Post emergency phone numbers
 Teach everybody when and how to call
 Determine when and how to turn off water, gas, electricity
 Install and maintain smoke detectors
 Local and review use of fire extinguishers
 Stock emergency supply and assemble a disaster supplies kit

37. PROFESSIONAL PREPAREDNESS
 A copy of their professional license
 Personal equipment such as stethoscope
 A flashlight and extra batteries
 Cash
 Warm clothing and a heavy jacket
 Record keeping materials and pocket size reference book
 It is recommended all workers be certified in first aid and
CPR in addition to disaster training for health
professional.

38. ROLE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSE IN
IMPACT PHASE OR RESPONSE PHASE
 The role of the community nurse during disaster depends greatly on the
nurse’s past experience, role in the institutions and community’s
preparedness, specialized training and special interest and flexibility.
 Prioritizing of victims for treatment can be done in many ways. Some use
color coding [ American Red Cross] probably the best and most easily
understood for category systems is the first priority, second priority,
third priority and dying a dead stem according to color coding system.

39. INFORMATION INCLUDED IN INITIAL
ASSESSMENT
 Geographical extent of disasters impact.
 Population at risk or affected
 Presence of continuing hazards
 Injuries and deaths
 Availability of shutter
 Current level of sanitation
 Status of health involved in ingoing surveillance use the
following methods to gather information,

40. ROLE AT EMERGENCY STATION
 Arranging with the volunteer medical consultant for initial and daily health
checks based on the health needs of shutter residents.
 Establishing nursing care priorities and planning for health care supervision
 Planning for appropriate transfer of patients to community health care
facilities as necessary.
 Evaluating health care needs
 Arranging for secure storage of supplies, equipment, records and medications
and periodically checking to see whether material goods must be ordered.
 Requesting and assigning volunteer staff to appropriate duties and providing
on the job training and supervision.
 Consulting with the shelter manager on the health status of patient and
workers identifying potential problems and trends

41. PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS OF VICTIMS
 Those who have lost one or more family members
 Those who have suffered serious injury
 Those who have a history of psychological disorder
 Those who have lost their home or possessions
 Those who are poor or on a fixed income
 Elderly individuals
 Members of minority groups
 Those without adequate support systems.

42. C.ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSE
IN DISASTER RECOVERY
 During the recovery phase of a disaster nurse are involved in
efforts to restore the community to normal. Referral of injured
victims for rehabilitation and convalescence is important to
reduce the chance of long-term disability. Psychosocial needs
must be addressed. In addition to identifying those in need of
longer term counseling, nurses must link victims with support
agencies to help with food, clothing and shelter needs depending
in the extent of damage to the community and the injuries of
victims the recovery phase can be relatively quick or can extend
over a long period of time

43. CONCLUSION
 Disaster can be naturally occurring or man made individuals
response in many different ways to the disaster experience and
emergency care providers are not immure to personal responses to
the experience. Community health nurse provides encouragement
care and support to community members during a disaster and are
unequally qualified to meet the challenges of disaster nursing
under poor environmental conditions and with frequent
interruption.