Policies Influencing Disaster Nursing: A Hurricane Katrina Case Study for Nurse Educators

As educators, we teach our students in public health that the level of knowledge possessed by nurses supports the response and recovery of the community after a disaster has occurred (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2004). It is one thing to teach or learn disaster nursing in a classroom, however, and quite another to be in the midst of it. This presentation will focus on the ethics, policies and politics surrounding one university's commitment to providing care during one of the worst natural disasters of our time: Hurricane Katrina. From September 1-5, 2005, 16 students and faculty from Troy University in Alabama had the unique opportunity to practice classroom pedagogy in a clinical setting we could never have planned. Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was the only fully functioning hospital within 100 miles of the Gulf Coast, and was inundated by patients requiring medical attention. We divided into teams, working in the emergency room, labor and delivery, and a medical-surgical unit. Altogether, over 800 hours of labor was donated by students and faculty working around the clock. In this presentation, issues such as out of state licensure, work release, and compliance with Medicare, Medicaid, and HIPAA, and EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) requirements will be presented in light of the Hattiesburg experience. Additionally, nursing Scope and Standards of Practice (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2004) and the Code for Ethics (ANA, 2001) relevant to disaster nursing will be discussed.