Nurses’ Competencies in Disaster Nursing: Implications for Curriculum Development and Public Health

Alice Yuen Loke and Olivia Wai Man Fung
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Alice Yuen Loke: School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Olivia Wai Man Fung: Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Hong Kong

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore Hong Kong nurses’ perceptions of competencies required for disaster nursing. Focus group interviews and written inquiry were adopted to solicit nurses’ perceived required competencies for disaster care. A total of 15 nurses were interviewed and 30 nurses completed the written inquiry on their perceived competencies related to disaster nursing. The International Council for Nurses’ (ICN) framework of disaster nursing competencies, consisting of four themes and ten domains, was used to tabulate the perceived competencies for disaster nursing reported by nurses. The most mentioned required competencies were related to disaster response; with the ethical and legal competencies for disaster nursing were mostly neglected by nurses in Hong Kong. With the complexity nature of disasters, special competencies are required if nurses are to deal with adverse happenings in their serving community. Nurses’ perceived disaster nursing competencies reported by nurses were grossly inadequate, demonstrating the needs to develop a comprehensive curriculum for public health. The establishment of a set of tailor-made disaster nursing core competencies for the community they served is the first step in preparing nurses to deal with disastrous situations for the health of the public.

Keywords: competencies; disaster nursing; disaster nursing curriculum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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