Department of Emergency, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan.
Department of Disaster and Radiation Medical Sciences, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Jul 1;22(1):848. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08231-8.
Disaster relief operations involve a variety of components of healthcare efforts. The post-disaster recovery is a key component of hospital preparedness. This study aimed to investigate the role of hospital nurses in the disaster area and their challenges during the relief efforts after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten nurses who worked in a general public hospital before the Great East Japan Earthquake and were dispatched to the evacuation centers after the disaster. A qualitative approach with the thematic analysis method was employed. Three research queries (RQs) were prepared before the interview.
The study participants played administrative roles as city employees in addition to performing nursing services as healthcare providers in evacuation centers. The first RQ on their challenges in evacuation centers gave us four themes: criticism by the evacuees, conflicts between multiple roles, difficulties in performing the first experience, and anxiety in working. The second RQ asking about motivation to accomplish disaster relief efforts raised three themes of carrying out the nursing role, acceptance by evacuees, and strengths of human connections. Two themes of awareness of disaster medicine and professional growth were raised from the third RQ of gains from the experiences in the evacuation centers.
The hospital nurses in the disaster area performed multiple roles in the relief efforts in the evacuation centers, which developed a psychological burden on them. A sense of competence supported the motivation to accomplish the disaster relief activities and professional growth as a specialist in disaster medicine. A study limitation is missing hospital nurses who resigned during the relief efforts. Further study is warranted to refine the disaster preparedness of hospital operations.
灾害救援行动涉及医疗保健工作的多个组成部分。灾后恢复是医院准备工作的关键组成部分。本研究旨在调查医院护士在 2011 年东日本大地震后的灾区中的角色及其在救援工作中面临的挑战。
对 10 名在东日本大地震前在一家综合公立医院工作并在灾难后被派遣到疏散中心的护士进行了半结构化访谈。采用定性方法和主题分析方法。在访谈前准备了三个研究问题（RQ）。
研究参与者在疏散中心除了作为医疗保健提供者提供护理服务外，还作为城市员工发挥行政作用。关于他们在疏散中心面临的挑战的第一个 RQ 给出了四个主题：疏散者的批评、多种角色之间的冲突、首次体验的困难和工作焦虑。第二个 RQ 询问完成救灾工作的动机提出了三个主题：履行护理角色、疏散者的接受和人际联系的优势。第三个 RQ 询问从疏散中心的经验中获得的收益，提出了两个主题：灾难医学意识和专业成长。
灾区的医院护士在疏散中心的救援工作中扮演了多种角色，这给他们带来了心理负担。作为灾难医学专家的胜任感支持了完成救灾活动和专业成长的动机。研究的局限性是在救援工作中辞职的医院护士没有包括在内。有必要进一步研究以完善医院运营的灾害准备工作。
