Disaster planning is a key element of running an emergency department. But disasters are
Gina Slobogin, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, NHDP-BC, BC-ADM, NEA-BC, CEN, TCRN, CPEN, CFRN, CTRN, PMGT-BC, PHRN
unpredictable by nature, and even the best laid plans can fail in the face of unprecedented catastrophe.
“Disasters aren’t defined by the event. They’re defined by the moment when demand exceeds available resources and the normal system stops working,” said Gina Slobogin, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, NHDP-BC, BC-ADM, NEA-BC, CEN, TCRN, CPEN, CFRN, CTRN, PMGT-BC, PHRN. “Are we training people to follow a plan, or are we preparing them to think when that plan fails?”
That’s the central question that Slobogin, a nurse practitioner and volunteer firefighter, will ask during the session “Disaster by Design: What Emergency Nurses Can Learn from the Fireground” today from 9:15-10 a.m.
The session explores how key leadership, communication and decision-making principals from the fireground can be applied to disaster preparedness in emergency nursing, including crew resource management, command presence, situational awareness and adaptive leadership. It’ll also examine both hypothetical and real-world scenarios, such as Hurricane Katrina, and analyze what worked and what didn’t during the response.
While ED nurses deal with emergencies day in and day out, disasters and mass casualties are a different story, whether it’s a train accident that sends 50 people to the hospital or a tornado that injures hundreds and knocks out key infrastructure. That’s why it’s not enough to simply have a plan in place.
“Putting that plan on paper and putting it in a binder and putting it on a shelf isn’t the same as preparedness and actually preparing your staff to deal with this,” Slobogin said.
A nurse practitioner and volunteer firefighter, Gina Slobogin will share disaster preparedness principals from the fireground that can be applied to emergency nursing.
Critical Thinking at Work
Instead, emergency nurses should assess every disaster as it happens, adapt their plans and approach as needed like firefighters do, and be ready to take the lead when needed. For instance, when fire department officers first arrive on scene, they assess what’s happening, then relay that information to dispatch to formulate a response.
“I want the emergency nurses to be able to do that as well, so that when they’re talking to that administrator on call or whoever’s going to come in and take control, they can say, ‘This is what I’m seeing, and this is what’s going on right now, and here’s our top issues,’” Slobogin said. “I want them to actually think and use all those critical thinking skills that we as nurses are renowned for, especially emergency nurses and all their MacGyver skills.”
Slobogin also wants emergency nurses “to look at their department differently” and ask questions such as “Where would our system break first? What assumptions are we making that we probably shouldn’t be? What happens if communications fail? What if there’s not enough beds? What if there’s not enough people? What if there’s not enough supplies? What if we don’t have enough information about what’s going on?”
Slobogin hopes attendees walk away from the session with real-world strategies and tools to change the way their EDs approach disaster preparedness.
“I want them to go back to their department, look at the disaster plan or the disaster training that they have in place, and apply the principles that I bring up in the presentation so that they can say, ‘Are we training to this paper plan and there’s no leeway or room for critical thinking? Or are we actually training people to think during a disaster?’” she said.