Journal of emergency management (Weston, Mass.)
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Training and education enable emergency managers to deal with complex situations, create durable networks of people with appropriate expertise, and ensure that knowledge is utilized to improve resilience in the face of disaster risk. Although there is a discrete literature on emergency management training, few attempts have been made to create an overview that discusses the key issues and proposes a standardized approach. This article examines the nature of training and education in emergency and disaster management. ⋯ It is concluded that the master's level is particularly suited to emergency and crisis management education, as it enables students to complement the in-depth knowledge they acquired in their disciplinary first degrees with a broader synthetic approach at the postgraduate level. Some measures of standardization of course offerings are desirable, in favor of creating a core curriculum that will ensure that essential core knowledge is imparted. Education and training in this field should include problem-solving approaches that enable students to learn practical skills as well as theory.
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Inadequate healthcare workforce during a disaster affects the survival and health outcome of victims. During disaster strikes, nurses may face a dilemma regarding whether or not to report for duty, facing professional duty and their personal and/or family safety that may be at stake. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. ⋯ It is concluded that about one-third of nurses indicated that they would not report to work when a disaster strikes. This raises a warning signal for healthcare managers that they need to plan ahead to maintain an adequate workforce when disasters strike. Managers are urged to do more to understand the factors leading to nurses' unwillingness to report to work and to undertake realistic staffing planning to cope with the extra demand.