Preparedness of Tongan emergency nurses to respond to disasters: A mixed-method study.

Background: The emergency department (ED) serves as the access point for people requiring treatment during disasters, meaning emergency nurses are typically the first responders in such situations. Tonga's location on the Ring of Fire, has led to the Kingdom experiencing numerous disasters, making it imperative that emergency nurses are well-prepared to respond.

Method: This study utilized a Convergent Parallel Mixed-Method approach. A survey that collected qualitative and quantitative data was conducted among emergency nurses working on the five main islands of Tonga.

Results: A total of 43 emergency nurses responded to the survey with a response rate of 92 %. A key finding of the study is that Tongan emergency nurses are moderately prepared to respond to disasters.

Discussion: Five themes emerged from this study, disaster planning, previous disaster response experience, disaster related training, resourcing, external obligations, and readiness to respond.

Conclusion: To our knowledge this is the first study to explore the preparedness of Tongan emergency nurses to respond to disasters. While the findings of this study may not be generalizable to other settings, they may be beneficial to other Pacific Island Countries and Territories and small island developing nations.