Experiences of Nurses in the Implementation of Hospital Disaster Plan: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The role of nurses in each phase of disaster management is regulated in the Hospital Disaster Plan (HDP) prepared by the hospital management. The experiences of nurses in handling disaster at various stages need to be explored. The aim of the study is to get description of nurses’ experiences in HDP at PKU Muhammadiyah Bantul Hospital. This study was a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. Five nurses who have been working for minimum five years and are involved in a disaster team were recruited. A semi-structured interview between 30 and 45 minutes was conducted. There were three emergent themes; those are the roles of nurses in preparedness and mitigation phase, the roles of nurses in disaster/emergency response phase and the roles of nurses in the development of collaborative networks in disaster management. The roles of nurses in running HDP programs were found to be good in terms of preparedness, mitigation, disaster response phases and collaborative network development. Strengthening the capacity of nurses must be continuously encouraged in running HDP programs. Keywords—Role of nurseHospital Disaster Plan