In the event of a disaster, nurses can have several roles. Nurses can activate the disaster plan put forth by their hospital, triage patients in the hospital or in the field, provide emergent care to victims, help coordinate evacuating and transporting of patients, and more. Nurses have the responsibility to care for their patients, but they also need to care for themselves. I like to think of the saying that you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself. If a nurse isn’t taking care of themselves in both mental and physical capacities, they will not be able to safely care for those that have been affected by disaster. As nurses, we want to give our all to our patients and help as many people as we can. In a disaster that doesn’t change, but we must ensure that we don’t enter harm’s way to do so. If we get injured, that is one less nurse able to help save lives. In disasters every nurse and healthcare provider that is able to help should. If too many get injured or burnout, who would be left to care for everyone else? So, as much as I want to say that the patient is my priority, I must put myself in the same category. If not, I will not be able to provide the best possible care to the many people that need it.
