Nursing Initiatives: PostEarthquake Haiti
Nursing Initiatives: PostEarthquake Haiti
(Nursing Initiatives: PostEarthquake Haiti)
Question description
Please write a Paragraph answering to this discussion below with your opinion. Please include citations and references in alphabetical order in case of another source.
In her Diary Journal 3, the GCU student nurse reports “amputation, stump revision, horrible infections and dressing changes like can’t be explained” following the Haiti earthquake in 2010. To prevent the spread of infections and improve the situation, one primary prevention initiative done by nurses could be to educate the population and local medical staff in hospital about safe and proper sanitation practices, including hand washing and personal hygiene, sterilizing of medical instruments… Nurses could also give the basic immunizations to Haitians in order to avoid the spread of epidemics such as measles, hepatitis, rubella etc. These prevention action can be started as soon as the nurses arrive to Haiti.
Starting in phases 3 or 4, nurses can start assist the local doctors and surgeons in providing care to Haitian patients, in hospitals, clinic or even in the streets. As the GCU student remarks in her 4th video, the task is enormous, but Haitians are always grateful for the help: “As the care providers we felt tremendous appreciation and thankfulness from the throngs of people we have treated. Despite their amputations, broken limbs, massively infected wounds, filthy dressings…”
Tertiary prevention initiatives take more importance towards the end of the intervention, when the immediate emergency has declined and when more time and resources are available to plan for the future. At this point in times nurses can start implementing initiatives to help people manage their long-term health problems and injuries (chronic diseases, permanent impairments), to improve as much as possible their ability to function, their quality of life and their life expectancy. Support groups could be created so as to share strategies for living well. The GCU nursing student also remarked that many people had to be amputated after the earthquake. In partnership with the Haitian government and local authority, vocational rehabilitation programs could be developed to retrain amputated workers for new jobs fitting their disability.
One crucial need is for instance to provide teaching and educational support for the Haitian national staff, so that they can continue to cure patients and victims appropriately in the future (when international volunteers and NGOs retreat), and that they be better prepared in the event of other catastrophes. In particular, it is important that the Haitian staff follows up with treatment adherence for victims of the earthquake, and continues immunization campaigns in vulnerable populations.
For all nursing interventions, collaborations with the other medical NGOs present in Haiti would be useful, so as to best deploy available resources, make sure to treat as many people in need as possible, avoid duplication of initiatives and avoid the concentration of resources in a few areas. NGOs present in Haiti in 2010 included Doctors Without Borders, Relief International, International Medical Corps, Medshare. Collaboration with local authorities and the Haitian government is also crucial to ensure the maximal impact of initiatives taken, and coordination of relief efforts.
References:
“Diary of Medical Mission Trip” (2018). Grand Canyon University. Retrieved from: http://lc.gcumedia.com/zwebassets/courseMaterialPa…
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