Exploring potential roles of Register Nurse (RN) in American Red Cross during a disaster management cycle

19^th Global Nursing Education Conference

April 27-28, 2017 Las Vegas, USA

Klaudia J Cwiekala-Lewis and Brandon H Parkyn

American Red Cross, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Currently in the United States (US) 3,129,452 nurses are registered nurses (RN) and 834,392 are Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) both constituting 3,963,844 of the nursing workforce in US in 2016 (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2016). Nurses represent the largest sector of the US healthcare workforce and the efficacy of the healthcare system's response to disasters is mainly reliant on the surge capacity of the nursing workforce. Due to that fact nurses must be prepared to respond to any type of disaster. The American Red Cross is a non-profit organization whose mission statement is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of natural and man-made disasters. The ARC was founded in 1881 by Nurse Clara Barton and a circle of her acquaintances. Barton led the ARC for 23 years, during this time the organization has piloted several domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts. Currently, there are more than 15,000 nurses who are involved in paid and volunteer capacities, at all levels throughout the Red Cross. Currently, more than 20,000 American Red Cross nurses are involved in all levels throughout the Red Cross. Since nurses are an integral part of disaster response and the ARC is one of the organizations that trains and employs volunteer nurses, we decided to present potential roles of Registered Nurse (RN) within the American Red Cross during a disaster management cycle. This paper will not only explore potential roles of the RN within the American Red Cross, but also will map each potential role within the disaster management cycle.

Biography :

Email: klaudia.lewis@redcross.org