Emergency Nurses and Disasters

Researchers: Karen Hammad, Paul Arbon, Kristine Gebbie, Alison Hutton

Nurses working in the emergency department play an important role in the healthcare response to disaster, yet very little is known about their experience. I am conducting a study about emergency nurses and disaster response. I would like to interview nurses who have worked in the emergency department during a response to an external disaster event about their experiences and understanding of disaster response. You will be asked to be involved in two interviews of approximately 60 minutes duration conducted via Skype.

If you would like to know more about this study or you would like to participate please don’t hesitate to contact me disaster.study@flinders.edu.au

An analysis of the triage system in Emergency Departments in Indonesia

Researchers: Nana Rochana, Virginia Plummer, Julia Morphet

Increasing numbers of people seeking emergency care in emergency departments (EDs) around the world with different medical problems needs to be managed.

Recently, triage systems in some countries have developed markedly, especially in developed countries, such as Australia, Canada, The United Kingdom, and The United States. In some other countries including Indonesia, on the other hand, triage practices seem to slowly develop. Triage systems in Indonesia are still in a great deal of confusion.

This research describes the triage system in EDs in Indonesia.

Mass emergency preparedness of acute care services in Oman and New Zealand: an international comparative analysis

Researchers: Sultan Al-Shaqsi (MBChB/PhD candidate) Robin Gauld (supervisor) David McBride (supervisor) Ammar Al-Kashmiri (supervisor) Abdullah Al-Harthy (supervisor)

This project analyses strategic and operational preparedness of ambulance, emergency, surgical and intensive care services in New Zealand and Oman to respond to mass emergency events.

Understanding the willingness of emergency nurses to respond to a health care disaster

Researchers: Paul Arbon, Jamie Ranse, Lynette Cusack

Disaster response is an emergency nursing responsibility. However responding to disasters is becoming more hazardous as terrorism, pandemics and chemical industrial accidents challenge the safety of nurse responders and their families. International experience has shown that nurses can become victims of disasters and that fear of contaminating family and friends may prevent nurses from attending work or returning home during a disaster response.

This research contributes to disaster planning by providing insight into the factors that affect the willingness of Australian emergency nurses to respond to disasters. This research will facilitate disaster planning and policy development at national and health agency levels that better supports the personal needs of emergency nurses during disaster response.

Simulation education and Papua New Guinea nurses’ decision‐making in chest pain management

Researchers: Thompson Telepo, Virginia Plummer, Jenny Newton

This study focuses on simulation education used as a teaching strategy in educating nurses’ in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The nurses are from PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands and undertaking Bachelor of Clinical Nursing at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG).

The aim of the study was to evaluate any changes in the postgraduate nurses’ decision making, before the intervention, immediately after, and post 5 weeks intervention. The ‘effect of simulation education’ on nurses’ knowledge and skills may improve after the intervention.

A one‐group pre‐tested‐post‐tested experimental design was used.  A convenience sample of 22 nurses was recruited from the Division of Nursing, UPNG.  This study adapts Jeffries (2005) conceptual framework on simulation education use in developing, designing, delivering, and diffusing in educating nurses.

Nurses attitude toward family presence during resuscitation in Saudi hospitals

Researchers: Abbas Al Mutair, Virginia Plummer, Beverley Copnell

In Saudi Arabia, when patients are resuscitated their families do not commonly attend, including when children are involved.  The presence of family in the patient care area during resuscitation events is a new concept to Saudi Arabia, however it is highly recommended by many health organizations worldwide for several reasons including patient and family rights. There are few policies or guidelines in Saudi Arabia to guide health professionals in their practice around the option of family presence during resuscitations. The lack of policy may be because nurses do not embrace the concept. The purpose of the study is to identify the nurses' attitudes toward family presence during resuscitation. This study is highly significant because the results expected potentially inform future policy development in this concept area of nursing practice.

A quantitative descriptive design was used to explore the attitudes of nurses of King Fahad Hospital‐Hofuf and Prince Saud Ben Jalwy Hospital at Al Hassa city in Saudi Arabia towards family presence during resuscitation. Through a self administered structured questionnaire 137 nurses were surveyed. The nurses were required to complete it within two weeks and the response rate was 48.9%. The sample was average of categories of nurses working in the two hospitals and has no less than one year working experience.

Emergency Department impact and patient profile of H1Ni Infuenza 09 outbreak in Australia: A national survey

Researcher: Paul Arbon

This project responds to the urgent call for research to assess the impact of the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza in Australia. The project surveys members of nursing and medical colleges and accident and emergency departments throughout Australia and provides a review of the nature of presentations, the effect on staffing and workload and the strategies adopted to effectively manage patients presenting to emergency departments.

EMS trauma triage: does the red‐blue criteria enable over‐triage

Researchers: Dawn Higgins

This study will attempt to determine if the San Antonio, Texas‐area prehospital trauma triage criteria are understood and used appropriately by the local Emergency Medical System (EMS) and emergency department personnel. There is some perception by emergency department staff that a large portion of trauma patients are incorrectly assessed in the field by prehospital personnel. The sample population will consist of all adult military and civilians accepted to Wilford Hall Medical Center based on Priority 1 Trauma criteria. One goal of this study is to identify if this is due to misleading trauma triage criteria and/or education of responding personnel.  Other goals of this study include evaluating how well the current trauma criteria appropriately identified patients requiring a Level 1 trauma facility and how well the trauma resuscitation anticipated the needs of the patient.  Pre‐hospital and arrival survey responses will be compared to the calculated patient Injury Severity Score and final disposition for predictive value.

Exploring the disaster content of postgraduate emergency nursing programs in Australia

Researcher: Jamie Ranse, Paul Arbon, Ramon Shaban, Julie Considine, Belinda Mitchell, Shane Lenson

This research will describe and explore the disaster content of postgraduate emergency nursing courses as a means to better understand the disaster preparedness of emergency nurses.