Preparedness

Disasters have been increasing through-out time, both natural and man-made, and it’s agreed upon, that disaster can gravely affect communities and countries if they are not prepared for them. One major part of this preparedness is in the healthcare systems, and primarily in the hospital’s Emergency Departments. Finland has disaster preparedness as part of its national laws, and the Ministry of Social Affairs & Health (STM) has also provided guidelines for Healthcare District Municipalities(SHP) and hospitals. International research has been increasing on this subject recently, but no public national research had been found. This thesis explored the current level of disaster preparedness of nurses in working in an Emergency Department (ED) in a middle size hospital in Finland. The research attempted to identify the different types of disasters which the ED nurses are prepared for, and what trainings and education they have. As well as to identify the factors affect the nurse’s preparedness levels. An empirical qualitative research was performed using inductive thematic data analysis. Data was collected by interviews with 4 charge nurses from an ED. Patricia Benner’s theory “From Novice to Expert” was used as framework, along with the STM guidelines. The findings revealed a lack of knowledge in some areas of disaster preparedness, as well as a lack of sufficient training and education, which affected the participants’ confidence in themselves when it came to some specific major events, and in the ED’s level of preparedness, especially since many of the nurses working there currently were new.

Introduction: Flood disaster is a natural disaster that has unexpectedly occurred again. Community cooperation in terms of managing flood and focusing on families’ needs has become more systematic. It is important for a household to be prepared in any disaster. One of the preparations that should be done is the stockpiling of emergency supplies or flood supply kits during evacuation. This study aimed to develop a specific disaster kit for households for evacuation during a flood disaster based on cultural context. Methods: Data were collected from 75 key informants from every level of households that really have a great experience during the flood disaster that helping family packing for a living needs before evacuation. The development of the disaster kit based on cultural needs and all their views, needs, experiences, challenges, frustration and happiness was obtained from the interview sessions. Results: There are five themes that emerged from this research related to developing ...

This paper summarizes some of the major improvements and features of the Emergency Preparedness and Response developed to face scenarios with Extensive Damage, aspect that has taken particular emphasis after the events happened at the Japanese Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. After the so called “stress test" and taken as one of the main references the work developed by the United States, important enhancements are being applied in the nuclear industry both in Spain and internationally. The aim is to review both the historical origin and evolution suffered after the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant, and the fundamental aspects of Emergency Management that, taken into account its extended nature, have to be addressed by specific strategies that can prevent damage to the fuel and / or mitigate their potential consequences, when the plant response, considered normal, is severely affected. Improvements initially proposed as part of the response to hostile acts, bo...

The present study was conducted to refine the construct of psychological preparedness and to construct a test on psychological preparedness. Psychological preparedness involves the processes and capacities such as knowledge, anticipation, recognition, thinking, feeling, decision making and management of thoughts, feeling and action. It can play a critical role in improving one’s ability to carry out standard physical preparedness advice, cope up with stress and reduce the effects of post incident distress (APS). Learning and utilizing skills such as stress inoculation, stress reduction and emotion management can enhance psychological preparedness. Psychological preparedness can assist people to feel more confident and more in control and to use rational and clear thinking when responding to a situation, leading to an enhanced ability to assist others and a consequent reduction in injury and loss of life. It appears that we know unpleasant things will happen: we simply deny that these will not happen to us. In other words, we are psychologically unprepared for misfortune. Paton (2003) suggests the three phases of a Social-Cognitive model of natural hazard preparedness, each phase influenced by a specific set of variables. The first concerned factor is that to motivate people (precursor variable). The second concerned is the variables that linked this initial motivation with the formation of intentions. The third phase describes the relationship between preparatory intentions and actual preparation.
A number of studies have dealt with the role of psychological preparedness in disaster or specific kind of problem related to health (cancer, stroke, surgery etc.) Review exhibits that psychological preparedness is a frequently used concept in the area of disaster and health management these days.
Thus, in view of the large body of research, it is observed that all researches focused on community, disaster and specific health related problems. But no research is focused on individual preparedness for day-to-day short term and long term life events, episodes and stages. It is necessary to measure the individual preparedness to deal effectively with normal routine matters like: exam, interview, transfer, job joining, long joining, training courses etc. Since psychological preparedness seems to be phenomena with such broad scope, it is a matter of serious concern that no scale has been developed to focus on individual’s preparedness to deal with day-to-day matters. The present research is focused on that to fill this lacuna. Thus, the aim of the present study is to refine the construct of psychological preparedness and to construct a test measuring psychological preparedness in adults.
Objectives:-
I. Refinement of the construct of Psychological Preparedness.
II. Construction of items related to measurement of psychological preparedness for adults (Hindi).
To achieve the objectives of current research 5 steps have been taken.

FIGURE-VII SHOWS 5 STEPS OF CURRENT RESEARCH

STEP-I
To fulfill the purpose of current research first step was to construct test on psychological preparedness. To fulfill this purpose psychological preparedness is operationally defined with the help of internet search engine and library review. On the basis, facets of psychological preparedness were identified. After operationally defining the facets of psychological preparedness it was dividing into a person’s general life situation. It was divided into three levels: life events, life episodes and life stages. For each dimension four items were constructed (two items in each life situation were positively worded and the remaining two were negatively worded). In case of intention and decision making facets there were 13 items in each. For each item, response has to be marked on a five point scale. In this manner, total 86 items were constructed.
STEP-II
179 subjects (96 males and 83 females) within the age range of 18-45 years (mean age 27.8±6.15) were assessed. Frequencies distributions help us in reducing irrelevant items. 55 items having extreme distributions i.e. either more than 75% or less than 25% respondents have picked a particular side (agree/disagree) were rejected, only 31 items which exhibited more even distribution were taken for further analysis.
STEP-III
The selected items (31) were analyzed by factor analysis. Extracted 11 principal components rotated factor matrix did not give us a simple structure. To get the simple structure 18 single loaded items were further factor analyzed.
STEP-IV
Factor analysis extracted 7 principal components (Eigen value greater than 1.00). 7 extracted factors were named after content analysis of significant loaded items. Seven emerged factors have been named as: General preparedness, Personal management, Lack of cognitive preparedness, Specified anxiety, Anticipation, Future orientation and generalized anxiety.




STEP-V
Defining the emerged 7 principal factor:
Factor-I General preparedness: - It explains 12.97% variance. General preparedness includes physical as well as psychological aspects of preparedness. This factor seems to be composed of various facets viz. arousal, anticipation and management.
Factor-II Personal management: - It explains 10.31% variance. Personal management is about mapping a plan for life that involves setting of short-range and long-range goals and investigating different ways to reach those goals.
Factor-III Lack of Cognitive Preparedness: - It explains 9.92% variance. Cognitive preparedness includes decision making, self-confidence and self-efficacy.
Factor-IV Specialized anxiety: - It explains 7.46% variance. It shows anxiety related to some specific situation. Sometime, we face a situation that evaluates us like: an exam, interview etc. Thus, kind of situation imposed anxiety on us for a specified time and duration. After completion of this specific task person feels relaxed and feels free from anxiety.
Factor-V Future orientation: - It explains 6.83% variance. Future orientation is an important component of psychological preparedness. The factor of future orientation is seems to be corresponding roughly with the motivational aspect of psychological preparedness.
Factor-VI Anticipation: - It explains 6.61% variance. Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure, excitement and sometime anxiety. In considering some expected or longed-for good event. This factor seems to be related with the emotional angle of future orientation.
Factor-VII Generalized anxiety: - It explains 6.13% variance. This factor deals with general anxiety related to short term or long term life situation.

Background: One of the important aspects of hospital preparedness in disasters is its rapid
early warning system. In this study, the activation of early warning system was evaluated under
the monitoring of disasters workgroup of the Ministry of Health based on the national program
of “hospitals preparedness in disasters” in Shahid Motahari Hospital.
Materials and Methods: This is an interventional study, with a quasi-experimental pretest and
posttest design. This hospital was chosen nonrandomly as it was the pilot hospital of the Ministry
of Health to conduct studies in the field of health during disasters. The data collecting instrument
was the hospital disaster preparedness checklist which evaluates 9 indexes of “command and
control,” “communications,” “safety and security,” “triage,” “increasing capacity,” “continuity
of critical services,” “human resources,” “logistics and supply management,” and “recovery
after disasters.” Data of pretest and posttest were analyzed through nonparametric Wilcoxon
test, using SPSS software, version 16.
Results: The preparedness score before the intervention was 134, which represents the
moderate level of hospital preparedness. The evaluation before and after the intervention
indicated that “recovery after disaster” and “triage” had the least change with an increase of
one score and the index of “logistics and supply management” had the maximum increase by
5 scores. The overall score of preparedness significantly increased from 134 to 159 (P<0.05)
after the intervention, which represents a change from moderate to high hospital preparedness.
Conclusion: The preparedness of Shahid Motahari Hospital, which is the only specialized
hospital of Tehran in burns, has significantly increased and reached a level of high preparedness
to deal with disasters. This study indicates the importance of developing the activation of early
warning system in hospitals for rapid and appropriate response to the disasters.

Background: Disasters are stressful events not only for individuals who suffer from personal loss but also for the community at large. It seems necessary to study the mental health of the community in disaster situations so as to endorse their health, care planning and prevent disorders. A pure understanding of the community mental health preparedness, based on the experiences and perceptions of involved people is necessary in order to attain this aim. The purpose of this article is to put forth a subjective and comprehensive description of community mental health preparedness in disasters. Materials and Methods: A qualitative inductive content analysis method was exploited since community mental health preparedness is a subjective, context bond and complex phenomenon, which is better described based on in-depth experience and perceptions of involved people. The study consisted of 14 participants including experts and lay people. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. All interviews were transcribed and data analysis was accomplished based on qualitative inductive content analysis principles. Results: From the analysis of the data content, 5 themes were explored including 1) Cultural values and beliefs; 2) Risk beliefs; 3) Mental preparedness in disasters; 4) Psychological process; 5) Trust. Conclusion: Mental health preparedness is a multifactorial phenomenon that requires a clear understanding and definition of perceived threats, public trust on social structure and formal and informal supportive organization. This preparedness involves proportional, mental, social, familial, religious beliefs, and cultural sensitivity along with the ability to handle mentally disastrous situation, which can be measured after concept analysis and tool development process.

Background: Rising trend of emergencies and disasters in the world has caused a lot of damage to the health care facility infrastructures. This has led the health needs of the affected population to be the first and most requirement in emergencies and disasters. In most countries for the timely and appropriate response to the health needs of the affected areas, structured and organized teams are formed. Given the frequent occurrence of events in Iran and the adverse effects of emergencies and disasters on the community health, this study aimed to investigate the obstacles and challenges associated with the organization and preparation of Iran's Emergencies and Disasters Medical Response Teams (EDMRT). Materials and Methods: In this study, a qualitative approach with a content analysis method was used to explore and extract the obstacles and challenges of the medical response teams in the field of organization and preparation. Data collection was done through 18 in-depth, unstructured, and semistructured interviews with 16 experts and experienced people who were purposefully selected. Besides the interview, field visits and related reports were used to confirm or reject the findings. Data analysis was done by the qualitative approach recommended by Graneheim. Results: The obstacles and challenges associated with the organization and preparation of teams were obtained under 1 theme, 2 categories, and 10 subcategories. The main theme was "team management". The categories included unorganized groups and frangible readiness. Concepts of the team; unknown structure, lack of effective leadership/command, poor supervision of proctor organization, membership; complex process, heterogeneous composition are the sub-categories related to the first category. And concepts of local level; disable to establishment a team; disaster medicine, unfamiliar concept; lack of air care team; dependence versus self-sufficiency; non-systematically support; and inappropriate location of deployment are the sub-categories of the second category Conclusion: The results of the study show that the current structures for medical response in emergencies and disasters have numerous challenges in terms of organization and preparedness. This defect harms the performance and effectiveness of medical response teams and an obstacle to the overall policy of reducing damages in disasters. The present study illustrates the need to review and refine the organization and preparedness processes associated with the current structure of medical response teams in emergencies and disasters. Of course, it is recommended that a more comprehensive study be conducted to identify and address the other areas of influence in these teams, such as legal considerations, health and safety, and related security issues.

Background: Many types of natural disasters are sudden and calamitous events that create a large
socioeconomic burden with significant negative impact on health care, social infrastructure, and
the environment; especially in the low and middle income countries; therefore, it is necessary to
reduce or control this kind of disasters by understanding the specific risks and negative impacts.
Recognition of disaster events helps us to plan effectively, coordinate and invest on disaster risk
reduction projects.
Materials and Methods: The current article was a narrative review of the epidemiological data
available on natural disasters in MNA countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia,
and Yemen) and their trends from 1900 to 2015. The statistical data were obtained from international
disaster sources (EM-DAT, DesInventar and Gapminder) and literature reviews of international
reports and journals. To find related articles from journals, data bases such as Pubmed, Escopus,
Google Scholar, and SID were searched for the following key words: natural disasters, Middle-East,
disasters and Middle-East, disasters and North Africa, natural disasters and Middle-East, natural
disasters and North Africa, and disaster and trend.
Results: In the last century, more than 80% of natural disaster events occurred in MNA and
concentrated in just 9 countries as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Morocco,
Yemen, and Egypt. Hydrological disasters (flood and landslide) with 63% had the largest share in
2015 and were more than that of the last century. In 2015, mortality rate of flood with 11% and
landslides with 32% had increasing trend compared to last century. In the last 2 years, conversely,
damages and victims from flood were about 85%, which were more than those of the last century,
but in landslides no change was observed. In 2015, meteorological disasters such as storms and
extreme temperatures represented 19% of the total disaster occurrence that had an increasing trend
compared to that of the last century with 12%. Extreme temperatures with 57% of all deaths and
storm with 72% of total victims had the highest levels among other natural disasters in this period.
In the previous years, the total number of death, affected people, and damages of metrological
disasters had increasing trend compared to the last century. In addition, in 2015, the frequency
of climatological disasters (drought) and geophysical disasters (earthquake) did not change
significantly, but the number of affected people, deaths, and damages from drought and earthquakes
had a noticeable decrease compared to those of the last century.
Conclusion: The trends of natural disasters frequency from 1900 to 2015 in MNA has increased
and effective mitigation and preparedness is necessary, both at individual and governance levels.
This issue in the middle income and developing countries in MNA should be considered as a high
priority in national planning.

Background: Disasters and emergencies are always among the major challenges and problems facing societies. By proper education and preparedness promotion for households, the effects of disasters and emergencies can be reduced. This study was performed to provide disaster assessment and education guidelines in western regions of Tehran Province in 2018. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. For data collection, the "Disaster Assessment and Education Guidelines" provided by the Ministry of Health was used. The forms and checklists were compiled by experts of urban and rural health centers. Then, the level of household preparedness for disaster was evaluated. Results: Based on the present study in 314 centers covered, 1726803 households were evaluated. In the northwest and west Tehran health centers, Shahryar, Malard, Qods, Robat Karim, and Baharestan and all of the regions, the levels of preparedness were estimated 34.9,

This research describes the preparedness and the actual, or anticipated, evacuation behaviours of a sample of 352 pet owners in Australian who experienced a range of natural disasters or emergencies. Three quarters experienced a bushfire or flood (42 per cent and 33 per cent respectively) and around a third (34 per cent) evacuated their homes. Of those who evacuated, 29 per cent did so in less than one hour and 58 per cent returned within two days. Over two-thirds (69 per cent) stayed with family or friends when they evacuated. Many people evacuated with multiple combinations of pets. The majority of those who evacuated kept some of their pets with them (81 per cent) and 15 per cent left some pets behind; either enclosed in the home, released to escape, or unable to find/catch. Around the time of evacuation 42 per cent sought some form of immediate assistance, help or advice, with evacuation of their pets. Most turned to neighbours and friends (30 per cent), social media (9 per cent...

Psychological preparedness is defined as a phenomenon to face challenges in life as you
are able to understand, anticipate, recognize and manage your anxieties, stress, emotional
responses, and feel more confident, efficient in controlling situation and successfully cope in an
emergency situation (APS, 2007). A person faces so many challenges in his/her life and stress is
inevitable; we can't avoid it. So, better to be psychologically prepared for upcoming emergency
situations; not only for emergency we should be prepared for day-to-day regular life. Each
individual needs to be psychologically prepared for different stages in his life. Psychologically
preparedness is a phenomenon that has been studied so many times by the disaster management
researchers and health management scientists. Psychological preparedness is not being
emotionally invincible but about understanding how we are likely to react in a stressful situation
and employ strategies for better management of those psychological responses while attending
emergency responsibilities. Preparedness, a multi-faceted construct, is manifested at three levels:
Cognitive level, Emotional level and Instrumental level (Mashiach, & Dekel, 2012).
Psychological preparedness plays a crucial role in motivating people to take action in emergency
situation. Learning and utilizing skills such as stress inoculation, stress reduction and emotional
management can enhance psychological preparedness. There has been less focus on individual
psychological preparedness by psychologists so far. Past researches show that previously used
tools have been constructed to measure psychological preparedness for a specific purpose. It is
equally necessary to measure the individual’s psychological preparedness to deal effectively with
normal routine matters.
Models of Psychological preparedness e.g., A Social-Cognitive model of preparedness by
Paton et al. (2001a, b); Virtues/Strengths based combat preparedness and resilience model (Singh
& Gupta, communicated) have been developed for understanding of the concept of psychological
preparedness. It is evident that psychological preparedness can be a good predictor of
success/failure for upcoming future events and may also reduce the anxiety and mental health
related problems. Resilience, self-efficacy, mobility, lability, future orientation and unrealistic
optimism have an interactive relation with psychological preparedness. These variables may play
vital role in leading success/failure. Research findings indicate that psychological preparedness
plays an important role in emergency situation. A few attempts have made to study the role of psychological preparedness in daily routine life situation like: examination, interview, marriage,
job joining, and admission in a new course etc. So, Individual general life situation can be
divided into three time frame works extending over different lengths, three different time frame
works: (A) Life Events, (B) Life Episodes, and (C) Life Stages.
Detail review also depicts a scattered position of the concept of psychological
preparedness and a well woven construct eludes-could it be due to the absence of a general
measure or tool of psychological preparedness. The detail literature review raise some questions:
Whether psychological preparedness is a personality trait or anything else? Whether
psychological preparedness help in reducing anxiety, high satisfaction or predictor of
success/failure for upcoming future events? Whether moderators like (Resilience, mobility,
lability, self-efficacy, unrealistic optimism, and future orientation) play crucial role in predicting
success/failure or not? To find answers for all questions a model of psychological preparedness
was proposed and empirically tested in the present research.
The present research was aimed to assess predictive validity of psychological
preparedness with the criterion as success/failure or performance level/coping on upcoming life
event, episodes and stage.
Objectives
The major objectives of the study are:
I. To study the construct of psychological preparedness.
II. To study the moderators (resilience, mobility, lability, self-efficacy, time perspective and
unrealistic optimism) of psychological preparedness for task outcomes.
III. To study the predictive validity of the test scores and as well the construct of
psychological preparedness for future task outcome.
Hypotheses
I. Either a general component or a multi componential model is likely to emerge.
II. Moderators will be part of a variate.
III. There shall be significant or sizeable correlation between psychological preparedness and
task outcome.
To fulfill above objectives, correlational design was employed and 263 Ss were
contacted and enrolled in to three groups. Two-level assessment were conducted: level one
named as testing level and level two named as feedback level for outcome. Group-I: Those, who
were in the schools and preparing for their next competitive examination (life event). Group-II:
Those, who were in the school/college and preparing for their board/semester examination (life
episode). Group-III: Those who were selected for the jobs and were receiving their appointment
letters (Life stage) to join soon.
Psychological Preparedness Scale, Resilience Scale for Adults, Mobility Scale, Lability
Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale, Unrealistic Optimism and Future Orientation (Lines and Circle Test)
tools were used in the study along with the participant’s background details were obtained.
Performance measured in Group-I: marks in competitive examination, Group-II: marks % of
Board/Semester examination and Group-III: Self performance appraisal.
Major Findings of the present study
1. Construct of psychological preparedness is emerging as general construct without facets.
2. Psychological preparedness did not differ at gender level.
3. Psychological preparedness is a trait and is significantly related with Mobility, Lability,
Resilience and Future orientation.
4. Discriminant Functional Analysis found to be Mobility and Lability as a major
contributor to the variate (Psychological preparedness). Therefore, it was named as
Temperamental discriminant function.
5. Moderators (Resilience, Mobility, Lability, Self-efficacy, Future orientation and
Unrealistic optimism) can correctly classify high or low prepared group membership up
to 84% as revealed by discriminant function analysis.
6. Factor analysis identified “temperamental preparedness and capability beliefs”.
7. The factor of temperamental preparedness and capability beliefs and examination
performance (criterion) were related to each other through self-efficacy.
8. There was no direct relationship between the psychological preparedness and the
(examination performance).
Limitation: A standardized tool for the measurement of psychological preparedness for general
life situations was not available and limited empirical studies were available, so trends and gaps
were sketchy.Dropout rate was more than 50% at the time of feedback. The end variable was
operationalized as single outcome.
Suggestion: Advance technology based analysis should be used like IRT. Qualitative technique
like interview, storytelling, and behavior observation may be employed in future study to assess
preparedness as well the performance/outcome. More outcome or performance indicators can be
studied. To reduce dropout rate of feedback some incentives should be given.
Implication: A standardized tool of psychological preparedness can be useful for the
identification of low or high-prepared person. It can be used in organizational settings for
screening, deployment, sorting for special operation etc. including military context, career and
work counseling, recruitment, transfer, assignment of new project in organization, useful in
hospital setup for care-giver, staff and patient.
Personality development program can also focus on preparedness with cautions of
unrealistic optimism and linked self-efficacy. Unrealistic optimism tend to enhance future
orientation. Stabile and inert temperamental persons tend to be less prepared with lesser feelings
of self-efficacy and resilience. Thus, they need to be attended more for training people in
psychological preparedness. Mobile and labile persons are likely to be well prepared.

Background: Hospitals as the essential health service providers should manage their performance during incidents and disasters. The Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) is helpful in this regard. The establishment of this system assists the hospital disaster risk management committee to get prepared in emergency situations. This study aimed to assess the effect of HICS establishment on preparedness of Police Hospitals in Tehran, Iran during disasters, under simulated conditions. Materials and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental interventional study. The study participants were 55 managers of Imam Sajjad and Vali Asr hospitals in Tehran selected by census method (23 from Imam Sajjad Hospital as the control group, and 32 from Vali Asr Hospital as the experimental group). The preparedness of hospitals was measured before the intervention using Hospital Preparedness Scale (HPS) designed by Khankeh (2012). After establishment of HICS in Vali Asr Hospital, the hospital managers received a 3-day training through incident scenario. After one month, their preparedness was measured again by HPS instrument. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS (Version 18) using descriptive statistics, Independent t test and Chi-square test. Results: Establishment of HICS significantly increased preparedness of hospitals in communications, continuity of vital services, manpower, and procurement and logistics areas. Conclusion: Establishment of HICS can improve the hospitals' preparedness at times of disasters in many aspects. It is suggested that similar studies be conducted in private and public hospitals with longer follow-up time.

Epidemics and pandemics have shaped human history and will continue to do so. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that there is need to understand how Europe can ensure better management of and preparedness for them. This joint advice builds on lessons learned from the current and from previous pandemics. It analyses their complexity, drawing on insights from research and scholarship and taking Europeanvalues and respect for fundamental rights as critical orientation. It is developed jointly by the European Commission’s independent Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and Peter Piot, Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission on the response to COVID-19. Their recommendations include strengthened European and global solidarity and coordination in governance, research and community efforts to improve pandemic preparedness and management. This should address all aspects and causes of pandemics in their comple...

To develop a vision for the future of disaster nursing, identify barriers and facilitators to achieving the vision, and develop recommendations for nursing practice, education, policy, and research. A series of semistructured conference calls were conducted with 14 national subject matter experts to generate relevant concepts regarding national nursing workforce preparedness. An invitational daylong workshop hosted by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was held in December 2014 to expand and refine these concepts. Workshop participants included 70 nurses, emergency managers, and a broad range of public health professionals. Conference call notes and audiotapes of the workshop were transcribed and thematic analysis conducted to outline a vision for the future of nursing in disaster preparedness and response, and to articulate an agenda for nursing practice, education, policy, and research to achieve that vision. The group develop...

This study presents the design and development of an electric shake table system. The system was used to train civilians and professional responders for disaster preparedness and emergency training. The developed system can simulate actual ground shaking by combining both horizontal and vertical shaking motions produced by the two induction motors. Moreover, the table simulation can produce intensity ranging from III to VIII in accordance to the Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS). The table’s motion was tested using a wireless digital seismograph to measure its effectiveness in tracking different earthquake intensities.

The natural events such as earthquakes turn out to be disasters as a result of not only the poor conditions of the built area and infrastructure, but also affected by the socioeconomic fragility and lack of resilience of the community exposed. Likewise, resilience factors play role in increasing the ability of people to cope with hazards. Social resilience is the capacity of social groups and communities to recover from, or respond positively to, crises. Emergency management plans must recognize and build on this capacity, and that ...

Small, tight-knit communities, are complex to manage from outside during a disaster. The township of Lyttelton, New Zealand, and the communities of Corsair Bay, Cass Bay, and Rapaki to the east, are especially more so difficult due to the terrain that encloses them, which caused them to be cut-off from Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island, barely 10 km away, after the Mw 7.1 Darfield Earthquake and subsequent Canterbury Earthquake Sequence. Lyttelton has a very strong and deep-rooted community spirit that draws people to want to be a part of Lyttelton life. It is predominantly residential on the slopes, with retail space, service and light industry nestled near the harbour. It has heritage buildings stretching back to the very foundation of Canterbury yet hosts the largest, modern deep-water port for the region. This study contains two surveys: one circulated shortly before the Darfield Earthquake and one circulated in July 2011, after the Christchurch and Sumner Earth...

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in fundamental alterations that triggered social and economic crises. Unfortunately, the spread of the coronavirus likewise caused a dramatic disruption in the delivery of education services worldwide. As a response, many countries had to implement various safety measures such as nationwide lockdowns and school closures. The consequences of the pandemic were recognized in the teaching and learning processes as well as adjustments in the practices of administration and management of education services. As the largest educational disruption in human history, the pandemic signified a demand for an emergency preparedness, response, and recovery mechanism (EPRRM) contingency plan that may assist the education machinery in continuing the services despite emergencies and crises. This chapter reviewed the literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to draw a roadmap on how to develop an education EPRRM contingency plan by merging three core processes: learning, teaching, and administration.

Local preparedness against earthquakes has been recently highlighted in research and policies on disaster management and risk reduction promotion in Iran. To advance the understanding of public preparedness and how it can be applied in diverse localities, further information is required about the predictors of people's adoption of mitigation activities and earthquake preparedness. A synthesis of the available published research results on earthquake preparedness and the influencing factors in Iran are presented in this literature review. It emphasizes the complexity of both the concept of preparedness and the contextual factors that mediate its adoption. The predominant roles of public awareness, trusted information resources, social capital and community collaboration as predictors are discussed.

Introduction The preparedness of nurses in relation to providing palliative care is not always adequate, indeed, it is sometimes unsatisfactory; this may be caused by lack of knowledge and limited experience in end-of-life care (EOLC). Thus, this study purposed to assess the levels of registered nurses&#39; knowledge about EOLC, examine the relationships between EOLC knowledge and some demographic variables, and explore predictors of EOLC knowledge. Methods A cross-sectional design survey was conducted with Jordanian registered nurses in critical care units (N = 175) in different heath sectors in Jordan. The End-of Life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS) was used. Results Findings showed that nurses had moderate/quite a lot of knowledge (M (SD) = 2.58 (.48)) about EOLC. The cultural and ethical values was the highest subscale of knowledge about EOLC (M (SD) = 2.74 (.52)), while effective care delivery subscale was the lowest one ( (M (SD) = 2.33 (.66). Knowledge about EOLC was cor...

Background Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave. Methods This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected COVID-19 patients and prior COVID-19 case-management training. Results We surveyed 24,653 HCWs from 371 hospitals across 57 countries and received 17,302 responses from 70.2% HCWs overall. The median COVID-19 preparedness score was 11.0 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6.0–14.0) and the median awareness score was 29.6 (IQR = 26.6–32.6). HCWs at COVID-19 designated facilities with ...

Research Question: What are the key factors that shape the decision-making frameworks of Australian public sector organizations in developing risk management strategies to address possible disasters arising from Information System (IS) failures? Subsidiary questions arising from this, and which will help further focus the study, are: Do these factors vary across organizational and industry contexts? How is preparedness to deal with possible IS-related disasters interpreted by key decision-makers within public sector ...

1. Department of Health in Emergencies and Disasters, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2. Medical Ethics and Law Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3. Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 4. Rofeydeh Hospital, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 5. School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 6. Department of Nursing, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

Introduction The preparedness of nurses in relation to providing palliative care is not always adequate, indeed, it is sometimes unsatisfactory; this may be caused by lack of knowledge and limited experience in end-of-life care (EOLC). Thus, this study purposed to assess the levels of registered nurses&#39; knowledge about EOLC, examine the relationships between EOLC knowledge and some demographic variables, and explore predictors of EOLC knowledge. Methods A cross-sectional design survey was conducted with Jordanian registered nurses in critical care units (N = 175) in different heath sectors in Jordan. The End-of Life Professional Caregiver Survey (EPCS) was used. Results Findings showed that nurses had moderate/quite a lot of knowledge (M (SD) = 2.58 (.48)) about EOLC. The cultural and ethical values was the highest subscale of knowledge about EOLC (M (SD) = 2.74 (.52)), while effective care delivery subscale was the lowest one ( (M (SD) = 2.33 (.66). Knowledge about EOLC was cor...

Nursing homes (NHs) have been among the care settings most affected by both the virus itself and collateral damage through infection protection and control measures (IPC). However, there is a paucity of research regarding disaster response and preparedness of these institutions. The present study aimed to analyze disaster response and management and to develop prospective strategies for disaster management in NHs. A qualitative survey including (i) residents, (ii) nursing staff, (iii) relatives of residents, and (iv) NHs’ medical leads was performed. Data were collected by 45 in-depth interviews. Our results indicate that the shift from resident-centered care towards collective-protective approaches led through the suspending of established care principles to an emergency vacuum: implementable strategies were lacking and the subsequent development of temporary, immediate, and mostly suboptimal solutions by unprepared staff led to manifold organizational, medical, and ethical conflic...

The increasing number of victims from disasters in recent years results in several challenges for authorities aiming to protect and provide support to affected people. Humanitarian logistics represents one of the most important fields during preparedness and response in cases of disaster, seeking to provide relief, information and services to disaster victims. However, on top of the challenges of logistical activities, the successful completion of operations depends to a large extent on coordination. This is particularly important for developing countries, where disasters occur very often and resources are even scarcer. This paper assumes a multi-agency approach to disaster preparedness that combines geographical information systems (GIS) and multi-objective optimization. The purpose of the tool is to determine the location of emergency facilities, stock prepositioning and distribution allocation for floods. We illustrate the application and the results using a case study centred on...

Scenarios that disrupt and jolt entire systems, such as the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, place organizations, communities, and populations in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments that can affect all sectors of societies and can have disastrous effects ranging from high morbidity and mortality, political upheaval, and extensive economic damage that can last for weeks, months, or even years Effective leaders are considered one of the most pivotal resources for organizations both in times of normalcy and crisis, yet international criticism has flared pertaining to national, state, local, corporate, and policy leadership in this COVID-19 environment of discontinuous change We posit that these challenges arise as a result of historically rare allocation of sufficient resources to crisis and disaster preparedness This paper explores the leadership challenges associated with highly chaotic environments and makes a theoretical argument that leadersh...

Adverse outcomes from 2014 flooding in Serbia indicated problematic response phase management accentuated by a gender imbalance. For this reason, we investigated the risk perceptions and preparedness of women and men regarding these types of events in Serbia. Face-to-face interviews, administered to 2500 participants, were conducted across 19 of 191 municipalities. In light of the current findings, men seemed to be more confident in their abilities to cope with flooding, perceiving greater individual and household preparedness. By contrast, women displayed a deeper understanding of these events. Perhaps owing to a deeper level of understanding, women demonstrated more household-caring attitudes and behaviors and were more prone to report a willingness to help flood victims at reception centers. Emergency management agencies and land planners should account for these differences in gender awareness and preparedness. Based on these findings, doing so may increase citizen participation...

This article provides an update on the progress of the &quot;Call to Action: Nurses as Leaders in Disaster Preparedness and Response.&quot; A steering committee, initiated, directed, and supported by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, has undertaken the work of bringing together subject matter experts to develop a vision for the future of disaster nursing. The ultimate goal is to ensure that every nurse is a prepared nurse. As one result of this work, the Society for the Advancement of Disaster Nursing has held its inaugural meeting in December 2016.