Disaster Preparedness and Management

Book Preface

If you are looking for a book that will give you all the answers to all the questions concerning disaster preparedness and response, look no further because it simply does not exist. It cannot exist. Such a book would require volumes of information and more importantly, knowledge of the future. Disasters, by their very definition, overwhelm all available resources. As such they will overwhelm any disaster preparations. They are fluid events that cannot be predicted. We cannot know what effect our preparations will have. We cannot stop the inevitable. Lives will be disrupted, injuries and death will occur, property will be damaged, public services and health care will not be able to provide the standard of care normally expected by the public. If the scope of the disaster is large enough, these things are simply unavoidable. No book can encompass everything we need to know to avoid the unavoidable. If this scares you, that is understandable. But, don’t let it paralyze you.

What this book attempts to do is provide the basic information you need to ask the right questions, so that you can find the answers that will minimize the effects of disasters and mass casualty incidents. In this book are chapters dealing with the basics of disaster, personal preparedness and awareness, hospital preparedness, triage, weapons of mass destruction, violence, and other pertinent topics. It provides a relatively in-depth explanation of these topics so you, the practicing nurse, nurse practitioner, other advanced practice nurse, student, or other health-care professional can apply the information to your practice. From the information in this book, you should be able to understand how your practice will change in a disaster or a mass casualty incident. You should develop a sense of what you need to be aware of concerning rare diseases, many of which begin very much like a simple case of the flu or other common diseases. You should be able to form questions concerning your level of preparedness and that of the institution you work for. These questions will then guide you into forming a plan to minimize the devastating effects of disasters. They will help you to be as prepared as possible