Nursing process and critical thinking linked to disaster preparedness

19^th Global Nursing Education Conference

April 27-28, 2017 Las Vegas, USA

Julie A Bulson

Spectrum Health System, USA

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Often times during a disaster situation, staff forget what they are supposed to do, to effectively respond and care for patients already in the hospital, as well as, preparing for a surge of patients. Disaster preparedness is not unlike the nursing process. If, as nurses, we can reflect on something familiar and translate that practice into a crisis situation, it may become easier to respond in an unfamiliar situation. This lecture is about how nurses responding during a disaster situation is similar to their day to day use of the nursing process to assess, diagnose, plan, implement and evaluate. We will review each step of the nursing process and what would be expected of a staff nurse during a mass casualty situation.

Biography :

Julie Bulson has nearly 40 years experience in healthcare (30 years in healthcare emergency preparedness). Currently, she serves as Director of Emergency Preparedness overseeing emergency preparedness program development for Spectrum Health, a large healthcare system in the Mid-West. She has participated in many state/regional/community planning committees. She has presented at several national emergency preparedness conferences and has co-authored several articles related to healthcare emergency preparedness.

Email: julie.bulson@spectrumhealth.org