ReadyRN E-Book: Handbook for Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness

by Tener Goodwin Veenema PhD, MPH, MS, CPNP, FNAP

Overview

This color-coded, rapid-reference text includes all of the essential information you need to manage any disaster or emergency with mass casualties. Coverage of each category of disaster—weather-related, public health, infectious disease, chemical, biological, radiological/nuclear, and explosive—offers vital content on dealing with the injuries and nursing protocols for each scenario. Plus, information on disaster sites and clinical management prepares you to take action at the scene or in the hospital setting.

• Provides the need-to-know information on emerging infectious diseases, such as Swine Flu, including:
• Distinguishing Pandemic Influenza from annual seasonal influenza.
• Assessing and managing patients with quarantinable infectous diseases.
• Preventing further transmission.
• Critical Info feature highlights the most important points from each chapter.Assessment illustrations show characteristic symptoms and make it easy to identify signs of illness quickly.
• Icons alert you to important information to consider before approaching a patient, including personal risk, contagion, and reporting obligations.
• Color-coded sections and coordinated thumb tabs make it easy to find important information at a glance.
• Chapter outlines provide page references for each major section within the chapter.
• Glossary and Acronyms section includes the most commonly used acronyms and terms you’ll need in emergency situations.
• Family Disaster Plan appendix offers vital information on creating a personal disaster plan, and Family Risk icons alert you to dangers that may be carried to your family.
• Contacts appendix provides federal agency contact information, as well as space for you to fill in local emergency contacts for increased efficiency in a disaster.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780323079471
Publisher:	Elsevier Health Sciences
Publication date:	12/04/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

President and CEO, TenER Consulting Group, LLC; Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY

Table of Contents

Part 1 Basics

1. Disaster Management


Part 2 Natural and Public Health Disasters

2. Weather-Related and Environmental Disasters

3. Public Health Emergencies

4. Emerging Infectious Diseases


Part 3 Weaponry and Human-Caused Disasters

5. Chemical Emergencies

6. Biological Agents

7. Radiological and Nuclear Disasters

8. Explosives / Mass Casualty Events


Part 4 Priorities in Disaster Site Management

9. Personal Protective Equipment

10. Triage

11. Decontamination


Part 5 Clinical Management

12. Burn Management

13. Victim Assessment and Management

14. On-Scene Management

15. Psychological Considerations

16. Disaster Settings

17. Mass Immunization Clinics

18. Legal Implications


Appendices: Customizable References and Information

A. Family Disaster Plan

B. Contacts: Local and State Public Health Information

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms

References

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Anna Jarrett, PhD, CNS, ED(Washington Regional Medical Center)
Description: This handbook provides nurses in any specialty with a quick reference on what, how, and in what sequence to perform emergency duties in the event of a disaster. It also provides guidelines for emergency preparedness, such as emergency contact phone numbers, web addresses, graphs for family communication plans, and lists of important items and their place of storage. The first edition was published in 2006.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide critical information about responding appropriately to disasters and emergencies that all nurses can easily access. The handbook also helps nurses in providing safe and proper care for patients and their own families.
Audience: Written for all nurses, this handbook also would be beneficial for all emergency personnel. The editor is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, an associate professor of clinical nursing, and the president and CEO of TenER Consulting Group, LLC.
Features: This handbook provides an overview of the different types of disasters, outlines nurses' roles in disaster management, presents protocols for nurses to follow, and details assessment and management of victims. Each chapter begins with a section of critical information and an overview and ends with key points. Informative color charts and tables provide readers with a better understanding of the material. A chart defining the symbols used throughout the handbook is provided at the beginning, and an appendix, glossary, and index end the book. It would have been helpful for seminar and teaching purposes if the chart of important items/place of storage had been printed on one page, like the family communication plan was (on the inside back cover).
Assessment: This well-written handbook provides all nurses with the critical information needed in the event of a disaster. It includes guidelines for assessment and management of victims as well as information on biological agents, their side effects, and treatments, which is helpful since this is not common knowledge among most nurses. This is a very useful tool, especially for those nurses who want to help during a disaster but aren't familiar with an emergency nursing setting.