Emergency Preparedness and

Response:
What Nurses Need to Know
Overview
This session will cover:
– Emergencies that may affect nurses
– Emergency planning basics
– Considerations for nurses involved in
emergency response activities
Types of emergencies that
affect nurses:
• Natural disasters • Man-Made Emergencies
• • Chemical releases
• • Severe storms
• • Oil spills
• • Tornadoes
• • Biological agent releases
• • Hurricanes
• • Radiation releases
• • Floods • • Nuclear detonations
• • Tsunamis • • Explosions
• • Wildfires • • Terrorist attacks

• • Earthquakes • • Other crimal events

• Other Events:
• • Mudslides
• Disease Outbreak
• • Volcanoes
 Likelihood of Emergencies
• • Emergencies, particularly natural disasters, are
• unpredictable
• – Certain regions face particular hazards (e.g., tornadoes in the
• Midwest, wildfires in California, hurricanes along the Gulf and
• Atlantic coasts)
• • Likelihood of man-made events may be
• impacted by
• – Geographic proximity to hazard
• • Freight railroad tracks
• • Nuclear power plant
• – Target vulnerability and appeal
• Urban versus rural
Start planning for emergencies
• • Determine what to start planning for, and how to
• start, by assessing likely hazards
• – What types of emergencies are likely or probable?
• – What types of emergencies are possible?
• • What external hazards are you near?
• – What is your workplace’s role in various types of
• emergencies?
• • Impacted business (e.g., doctor’s office)
• • First-receiver facility (e.g., emergency department, trauma center)
• • Other facility that may encounter emergency victims (e.g., urgent
• care center)
• • Emergency responder entity (e.g., ambulance service, air medical
transport)
Nurses in impacted businesses
(without emergency response funtions)

• Your employer should:

• • Plan to protect workers, visitors, and others at
• the worksite during the event of an emergency
• • Assess likely hazards in and around the
• business
• • Determine necessary safety measures and other
• needs during an emergency situation
• • Develop emergency action plans
Nurses with emergency response functions

• Complex considerations for nurses and other

• workers with emergency response functions
• • Workplace hazards, exposure risks, and
• outcomes may vary widely depending on job
• duties:
• – in hospitals, EDs
• – field triage/care
• – public health functions
Nurses with emergency
response function
• Basic preparedness the same as for non-emergency
response workers:
• • Plan to protect workers, visitors, and others at
• the worksite during the event of an emergency
• • Assess likely hazards in and around the
• workplace
• • Determine necessary safety measure and other
• needs during an emergency situation
Nurses with emergency
response
• However, nurses with emergency response
• functions may face different or more
• dangerous levels of hazards.
• Employers should start by:
• • Assessing likely hazards during anticipated
• emergency events; then
• • Determining necessary protective measures
Nurses with emergency response
functions
• What hazards might nurses face on the job
• during emergencies?
• • Exposure to infectious diseases (pathogens)
• • Exposure to airborne contaminants, such as
• chemicals or radionuclides
• • Exposure to contaminated patients or equipment
• • Physical hazards in the field or at an impacted
• worksite, such as downed power lines,
• contaminated or deep flood water, falling tree
• limbs or structural components