Evaluation of a Novel Disaster Nursing Education Method

A common method of disaster training is needed to improve disaster nursing education and facilitate better communication among interprofessional disaster responders. To inform the development of disaster nursing curricula, a novel disaster nursing education method consistent with Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) framework was developed to improve disaster nursing competencies in a baccalaureate nursing program. In total, 89 undergraduate nursing students participated. Perceived disaster nursing knowledge, confidence, and training/response were assessed with 14 items before and after the education. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 factors, knowledge, confidence, and training/response, explained 71% of variation in items. Nursing students showed large improvements in perceived disaster nursing knowledge (t=11.95, P<0.001, Cohen's d=1.76), moderate increases in perceived confidence (t=4.54, P<0.001, d=0.67), and no change in disaster training and response (t=0.94, P=0.351, d=0.13). Results show preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of disaster nursing education informed by HSEEP. This training has the potential to fill current practice gaps in disaster nursing knowledge and build confidence to use those skills in practice. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:703-710)

Cooperation through Information Interchange in StormCast

rtificial intelligence/expert systems in the warning and forecast operations of the National Weather Service. Proceedings of Expert Systems in Government Symposium (McLean, VA, USA, 22-24 Oct. 1986). IEEE Comput. Soc. Press, Washington, DC, USA. pp. 578586. Renesse, R. van, H. van Staveren, J. Hall, M. Turnbull, B. Jansen, J. Jansen, S. Mullender, D. Holden, A. Bastable, T. Fallmyr, D. Johansen, Sj. Mullender, and W. Zimmer (1988). MANDIS/Amoeba: A widely dispersed objectoriented operating system. In R. Speth (Ed.), Research into Networks and Distributed Applications. Elsevier, Amsterdam. pp. 823-831. Sacerdoti, E. (1974). Planning in a hierarchy of abstraction spaces. Artificial Intelligence, 5, 115-135. Sacerdoti, E. (1977). A structure for plans and behavior. Elsevier, North-Holland, New York. Sarin, S.K., and N.A. Lynch (1987). Discarding obsolete information in a replicated database system. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-13 (1), 39-47. Smith, R.G. (1980). The cont

Gaps in Humanitarian WASH Response: Perspectives from people affected by crises, WASH practitioners, global responders, and the literature

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions prevent and control disease in humanitarian response. To inform future funding and policy priorities, WASH ‘gaps’ were gathered from 220 focus group discussions with people affected by crisis and WASH practitioners, 246 global survey respondents, and 614 documents. After extraction, 2,888 (48%) gaps from direct feedback and 3,151 (52%) from literature were categorized. People affected by crises primarily listed “services gaps”, including need for water, sanitation, solid waste disposal, and hygiene items. Global survey respondents primarily listed “mechanism gaps” to provide services, including collaboration, WASH staffing expertise, and community engagement. Literature highlighted gaps in health (but not other) WASH intervention impacts. Overall, people affected by crises wanted the what (services), responders wanted the how (to provide), and researchers wanted the why (health impacts). Our research suggests need for renewed focus on basic WASH services, collaboration across stakeholders, and research on WASH impacts beyond health