Week 5: Disaster and Communicable Disease Preparedness
Preparing for disasters, terrorist threats, or communicable disease outbreaks is an important part of public health nursing. Visit the websites http://www.ready.gov (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and http://www.ready.gov/pandemic (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Review the steps for being prepared for a disaster or pandemic.
- Choose a natural or man-made disaster that could impact your community and discuss how a CHN can help the community to prepare or respond to this disaster.
- Choose a potential infectious disease outbreak and discuss how a CHN can help to prevent or respond to an outbreak.
- How well is your community prepared for a potential outbreak or disaster?
Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2016). Ready: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2016). Pandemic. Retrieved from http://www.ready.gov/pandemic (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
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Collapse SubdiscussionJENNIFER HOENIG
Class,
School nurses help the schools to prepare for disasters. In the event of a biological or chemical attack on the United States, school nurses could be among the first health care professionals to recognize the event and respond. School nurses, thus, serve as public health personnel in such events.
Additionally, schools are usually spread in a geographically even pattern across communities. Most individuals in a community know where the local school is located and live close enough to get to a school building. School nurses with appropriate training/ support are a natural choice to augment public health staff in case of a bioterrorist event or natural outbreak. Therefore, schools that employ adequate school nurse coverage and medical disaster planning principles are a potential critical resource in both small scale events and widespread community disasters.
Here’s a link to an article that discusses the importance of public health nurses in disaster planning –
Association of Public Health Nurse (2013). The role of the public health nurse in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. A position paper. Retrieved from http://www.achne.org/files/public/APHN_RoleOfPHNinDisasterPRR_FINALJan14.pdf
Jennifer
