Disaster Prevention and Preparedness

After completing this course you’ll be able to:

1. Define a disaster and its consequences.
2. Describe different types of disasters and their classifications.
3. Discuss risk assessment, disaster preparedness and response before, during and after disasters.
4. Discuss the importance of information, communication, and preparedness to the health profession, other rescuers and the population.
5. Describe seven stages of disasters.
6. List two classifications of disasters and three levels of disasters.
7. Define triage, identify various systems for assigning priorities, and differentiate between three classifications of a patient’s condition: immediate, urgent, and nonurgent.
8. Describe nursing strategies at the disaster scene.
9. Explain the importance of treatment area management, protection of emergency responders, evacuation, and emotional support.
10. Describe preparedness and response before, during, and after a disaster.
11. List tasks or problems that is likely to occur in most disasters.
12. Indicate common causes of traumatic injuries after disasters and interventions.
13. Recognize assistance to victims – clean drinking water, safe food, shelter, and medical care of injuries.
14. Describe maintenance of people with special needs.
15. Discuss psychosocial concerns, ethical and cultural considerations.
16. Describe the importance of disease surveillance, investigation and control.
17. Describe safety management, list strategies to prevent and reduce the occurrence of trauma and describe recovery.
18. Recognize the significance of the “golden hour” and the “platinum 10 minutes” in trauma care.
19. Differentiate between level-I, level-II, and level-III trauma centers.
20. Describe management at the scene, and in the emergency room.
21. Describe triage at the scene, identification of the most seriously injured patients, assessment of injury, mechanism of injury and transport to trauma center.
22. Describe the methods (ABCDE plan) used in assessing and managing the care of injured patients. Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure; primary and secondary assessment strategies.
23. Describe assessment of the airway in an injured patient and recognize signs of airway obstruction.
24. List techniques for opening and securing the airway and differentiate among equipment used to open and secure the airway.
25. Identify various types of shock.
26. Describe the main causes and clinical signs of hypovolemic shock.
27. Discuss management of patient with hypovolemic shock.
28. Describe disability (neurologic status) and exposure (head-to-toe survey, environmentally related symptoms or conditions).
29. Relate signs and symptoms of trauma to the mechanism of injury.
30. Recognize signs and symptoms of thoracic injury.
31. Identify common types of thoracic injuries.
32. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained thoracic injuries.
33. Differentiate among various thoracic injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
34. Recognize signs and symptoms of abdominal and genitourinary injury.
35. Identify common types of abdominal injuries.
36. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained abdominal injuries.
37. Differentiate among various abdominal and genitourinary injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
38. Identify pelvic injury and describe assessment of patients who have sustained a pelvic injury.
39. Describe nursing interventions and injury management of patients with pelvic injury.
40. Recognize signs and symptoms of a head injury.
41. Identify common types of head injuries.
42. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained head injuries.
43. Differentiate among various head injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
44. Recognize signs and symptoms of maxillofacial and neck injuries.
45. Identify common maxillofacial and neck injuries and describe assessment of patients who have sustained these injuries.
46. Differentiate among head, ocular, maxillofacial and neck injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
47. Recognize signs and symptoms of spinal cord injury.
48. Identify common types of spinal injuries.
49. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained spinal injuries.
50. Differentiate among various spinal injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
51. Recognize signs and symptoms of orthopedic injuries.
52. Identify common types of orthopedic injuries.
53. Recognize special concerns in meeting the challenge of limb preservation in patients with orthopedic injuries.
54. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained orthopedic injuries.
55. Differentiate among various orthopedic injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
56. Recognize signs and symptoms of heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.
57. Describe prevention, assessment, and management of patients with heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.
58. Recognize special differences between adults and children when injured and normal physiologic parameters in infants and children.
59. Identify common injuries in infants and children.
60. Describe assessment of injuries in infants and children.
61. Differentiate among various injuries in infants and children and describe nursing interventions and management of them.
62. Discuss smaller sizes of emergency equipment and intraosseus infusion.
63. Describe the challenge of caring for injured and frightened children and for grieving, shocked or sometimes angry parents.
64. Describe postoperative care and intensive care for injured patients.
65. Describe monitoring, interventions and management of airway, breathing, and circulation in the intensive care unit.
66. Describe causes of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), compartment syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).
67. Describe interventions such as mechanical ventilation, with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), fluid replacement, and the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
68. Recognize signs and symptoms of penetrating injury (gunshot wounds).
69. Identify common shotgun, shrapnel, and blast injuries.
70. List four basic mechanisms of blast injuries.
71. Describe safety precautions, and the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained shotgun, shrapnel, and blast injuries.
72. Differentiate among various shotgun, shrapnel, and blast injuries in patients and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
73. Explain the importance of securing evidence by careful handling and preservation of the patient’s clothing and personal property, and proper charting and documentation.
74. Define and describe different causes of hypothermia.
75. Recognize signs and symptoms of hypothermia, general cooling, and local cooling.
76. Identify common types of hypothermia and cold injuries.
77. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained hypothermia and cold injuries.
78. Differentiate among various conditions of hypothermia and cold injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
79. Describe different types of fire disasters and safety measures.
80. Identify major types of burns and inhalation injuries.
81. Recognize signs and symptoms of burns and inhalation injuries.
82. Estimate the percentage of body surface area damaged by a burn and compare partial-thickness and full-thickness burns.
83. Describe safety precautions, and the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained burns and inhalation injuries.
84. Differentiate among various burns and inhalation injuries and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
85. Discuss special considerations in the burned infant and small children, the burned elderly, the risk of burn wound infection, and long-term treatment and rehabilitation.
86. Describe causes of biological emergencies and define epidemics, bioterrorism, and emerging infections.
87. Identify common epidemics during disaster situations, the mode of transmission, clinical characteristics, prevention, and available treatment or prophylaxis with vaccine or immunoglobulin.
88. Recognize bioterrorism as a real danger and recognize the signs, symptoms, and mode of transmission of high-risk biological agents.
89. Identify different types of emerging infections and their outbreaks, and the growing number of multidrug-resistant organisms.
90. Describe infection prevention, risk groups, control strategies, isolation precautions, personnel protective equipment, accurate information, reporting procedures, and surveillance.
91. Describe safety precautions, assessment and management of patients with biological emergencies.
92. Describe causes of chemical emergencies.
93. List types of hazardous chemicals.
94. Identify types of chemical agents most likely in an accidental release, or in act of terrorism or in warfare.
95. Recognize signs and symptoms of major chemical exposures.
96. Identify common chemical exposures.
97. Describe safety precautions, and the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained chemical exposures.
98. Differentiate among various chemical emergencies and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
99. Discuss proper equipment and decontamination, flushing procedures and double bagging of contaminated clothes and other materials, assistance from a HAZMAT team.
100. Explain the different types and characteristics of ionizing radiation and possible scenarios of radiation incidents.
101. Discuss radiation exposures, contamination routes and recognize signs and symptoms associated with radiation emergencies.
102. Identify Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), list three classic ARS syndromes and four stages of ARS.
103. Describe safety precautions, and the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained radiation injuries.
104. Describe protective clothing and methods to reduce exposure, radiation dosimeters, and survey with radiation meters.
105. Differentiate among various radiation exposures and describe nursing interventions and injury management of them.
106. Identify common reactions in the situation of multiple casualties or a disaster.
107. List the five stages of grieving that most persons go through when confronted with loss or potential loss.
108. Recognize concerns and needs of the rescuers of injured patients.
109. Discuss the characteristics of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
110. Identify symptoms of PTSD.
111. Describe the elements of assessment for patients who have sustained psychological trauma and PTSD.
112. Describe nursing management of patients with psychological trauma and PTSD.
113. Discuss the role of military and civil defense assets, military nurses and their roles.
114. Define war and civil strife, and discuss problems of displaced people and the need of health care.
115. Describe emergency medicine for soldiers in combat and improvement of hardware and army emergency care.
116. Explain the basic principles of landmines and their cause of injuries.
117. Discuss acts of terrorism and the use of Weapon of Mass Destruction (chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, and explosive weapons).
118. Identify competencies needed to recognize weapons of mass destruction and reporting procedures.
119. Describe professional and international organizations and nurse’s role in response to war, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and other major disasters.
120. Describe assessment and management of patients injured by terrorist bombings.