Search




Activities » Factsheet » Nursing Curricula

2008 Disaster Preparedness and Community Health Committee
Fact Sheet

Download 2008 Resolution [PDF]

2008 House of Delegates Resolution: In Support of Including Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Pre-Certification in Nursing Curricula

  • The National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) has supported disaster preparedness and response related efforts through resolutions in the House of Delegates since 2001.
  • Natural disaster events have quadrupled over the last 20 years, primarily floods, cyclones, and storms, and the average number of persons affected per year worldwide has increased to 250 million, causing a humanitarian crisis; and within the NSNA's membership 43% of respondents to the NSNA Disaster Relief Survey reported having experienced a disaster.
  • 84% of respondents to the NSNA Disaster Survey who stated that they had participated in disaster relief work felt it enriched their nursing education, yet 57% reported a need for more education in order to perform competently in a disaster relief situation. In addition, 96% felt that disaster preparedness education should be included in undergraduate curricula.
  • Nursing students are now required to understand the basic principles of disaster and emergency planning in order to accurately answer questions on those subjects which fall within the category of Safety and Infection Control on the NCLEX-RN®, which accounts for 18-14% of the total NCLEX-RN subject matter.
  • National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) basic training (IS-100, IS-200, and IS-700.a courses) for all potential disaster responders is a requirement for states, territories, tribes and local entities as of fiscal year 2006, in order to be deemed NIMS compliant, which is a requirement for agencies to receive federal disaster preparedness funding.

What Can Nursing Students Do?

  • Review the articles in Dean’s Notes (pp.1-3) and Imprint (pp. 32-33) that promote the importance of disaster preparedness and pre-certification
  • Encourage nursing programs to include disaster preparedness and response material in their planned curricula in order to adequately prepare students for the NCLEX-RN exam;
  • Encourage nursing programs to include the National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) training as an elective in their planned curricula;
  • Complete the National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) Certificate programs which are available online at no cost. Go to www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/NIMSTrainingCourses.shtm under NIMS Courses, select and then complete the NIMS online IS-100 course, printing the Certificate of Completion when received; select and complete the NIMS online IS-200 course, printing the Certificate when received; and select and complete the NIMS online IS-700.a course, printing the Certificate when received.
  • The Disaster Preparedness Committee challenges NSNA members to complete the three basic NIMS training programs online, print their Certifications and bring them to Registration at the 57th NSNA Annual Convention in Nashville, TN from April 15-19, 2009. At registration, NSNA members who completed the NIMS basic training program will be awarded a NIMS Certified ribbon to wear on their name tag and will be recognized at Convention.

Resources:

FEMA’s Incident Command System links to Resources and reference documents on disaster preparedness.

NSNA (2008) Guidelines for Establishing and Implementing Disaster Preparedness, Recovery, and Relief Projects which includes the Go Bag Check List (p. 5) and the Disaster Supply Kit Checklist (pp. 6-7.)

The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) has information on how to prepare schools and students for disasters, and information for how to prepare your home and family, and how to prepare your workplace and employees.