Increasing New Orienting Emergency Department Nurses\u27 Awareness of Mass Casualty Incident Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Core Competencies to Improve Mass Casualty Incident Response

Abstract

Mass casualty incidents (MCI) impose a substantial threat to healthcare. Despite the increasing frequency of MCIs many healthcare organizations and nursing programs do not adequately prepare nurses to be effective responders during an MCI. This evidence-based practice pilot project was purposed to increase new orienting emergency department nurses’ confidence and ability to effectively respond to an MCI. This project involved implementing an MCI educational program consisting of a disaster nursing framework to educate new orienting emergency department nurses on emergency preparedness and disaster response core competencies. The project leader utilized a quasi-experimental design to collect data pre- and post-intervention utilizing a modified Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ). The measurable outcomes for the project included improvement in awareness of competencies relate to MCI emergency preparedness, awareness of competencies related to disaster response, and level of self-reported confidence to respond to MCIs. This project revealed a statistically significant improvement in the awareness of emergency preparedness and disaster response core competencies among new orienting emergency department nurses as well as enhanced self-reported confidence to respond to an MCI. The results of this project have important implications for enhancing MCI education for nurses to develop prepared and effective responses to MCIs