The knowledge, skill competencies, and psychological preparedness of nurses for disasters: A systematic review

Disasters and the magnitude of destruction are increasing worldwide. Nurses constitute the largest number of healthcare providers and have major roles in disaster response and care. They need to have sufficient knowledge, skill competencies, and preparedness in responding to disasters. This review aimed to evaluate nursing preparedness to disasters in terms of knowledge, skill competencies, and psychological preparedness to disasters.

A systematic review was conducted from recent research articles published between 2001 and 2018, which included searches from five databases: PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus, Medline, and ScienceDirect. Quality of the selected studies was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), and the review results were generated through an iterative narrative process of synthesis to identify common themes.

Twelve studies, with a total of 1443 nurses involved, met the inclusion criteria. The articles revealed the need for further development of disaster preparedness of nurses in the aspects of knowledge and skill competencies; and in particular with more focus on the education of nurses to achieve better psychological preparedness.

The results of this review showed that it is important to enhance the psychological preparedness of nurses, in addition to knowledge and skill competencies, so that they can provide the best care possible to affected individuals as well as for themselves.