Role of a School of Nursing in community emergency preparedness

Public health emergency preparedness and disaster response are included in the “Essentials of Baccalaureate Nursing Education for Professional Nursing Practice”. The need for nurses entering the workforce with these basic competencies is necessary in our rapidly changing nursing practice environment. College campuses are being charged with leadership roles in emergency preparedness. To assure that students are developing skills to provide for the health and safety of their community in emergencies, one School of Nursing (SON) includes emergency preparedness into several levels of the curriculum. Disaster management education i.e. prevention, preparedness, disaster response and recovery has been incorporated into student's clinical experiences. Students develop clinical and leadership skills thru service learning projects and participation in the University's Medical Reserve Corps(MRC). These collaborative exercises enhance academic/ community partnerships of the SON and the University. The joint drills and activation involved Schools and departments within the University e.g. Health Services, nearby colleges and local coalitions. More than 1000 nursing students together with numerous campus organizations and community response partners have participated. Over a period of six years, four large scale disaster response activities were conducted including Preparedness conferences and one mass casualty exercise. Also, one full scale Emergency Dispensing Response was activated, where 10,000 vaccinations were administered to local residents. Lessons learned from these SON/ MRC activities will be utilized in subsequent University MRC activations; therefore, continuing progress towards ensuring the health and safety of students and those in neighboring communities.