Radiation emergency preparedness: perception of non‑physician first receivers (original) (raw)
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Chemical, biological and radiological incidents: preparedness and perceptions of emergency nurses
Disasters, 2009
Despite their important role in chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) incident response, little is known about emergency nurses’ perceptions of these events. The study aim was to explore emergency nurses’ perceptions of CBR incidents and factors that may influence their capacity to respond. Sixty-four nurses from a metropolitan Emergency Department took part. The majority were willing to participate in CBR incidents and there was a positive association between willingness to participate and postgraduate qualification in emergency nursing. Willingness decreased, however, with unknown chemical and biological agents. One third of participants reported limitations to using personal protective equipment. Few participants had experience with CBR incidents although 70.3 per cent of participants had undergone CBR training. There were significant differences in perceptions of choice to participate and adequacy of training between chemical, biological and radiological incidents. The study results suggest that emergency nurses are keen to meet the challenge of CBR incident response.
International Emergency Nursing, 2012
Two main areas exist within emergency care where chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive preparedness can be focused: departmental preparedness and staff preparedness. This study focused upon the latter. Aim: To identify areas where nurses require training in order to improve preparedness for a CBRNe incident. Methods: A competency questionnaire was developed from the literature and completed by 50 nursing staff across three Emergency Departments within one NHS Trust in Northern Ireland. Descriptive analysis was used for the quantitative data along with content analysis for the qualitative questions. Results: Six key areas were identified for training; waste management (including clinical waste, contaminated clothing, contaminated water and the management of the contaminated deceased), Triage, Chain of command, PODs, awareness of the range of Personal Protective Equipment and its appropriate use and the decontamination of people and equipment. Conclusion: There is a need for a standardised 'blueprint' of role-specific competency criteria for a CBRNe incident for all emergency healthcare staff. The assessment tool used in this study can help to assess levels of preparedness amongst nursing staff and, if adapted accordingly, help gauge preparedness of other key healthcare professionals.
Malaysian Nurses' Knowledge of Radiation Protection: A Cross-Sectional Study
Radiology Research and Practice, 2021
Radiology is a vital diagnostic tool for multiple disorders that plays an essential role in the healthcare sector. Nurses are majorly involved in a healthcare setting by accompanying patients during the examination. Thus, nurses tend to be exposed during inward X-ray examination, requiring them to keep up with radiation use safety. However, nurses' competence in radiation is still a concept that has not been well studied in Malaysia. The study aimed to define the level of usage understanding and radiation protection among Malaysian nurses. In this research, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 395 nurses working in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare sectors in Malaysia. The survey is based on the developed Healthcare Professional Knowledge of Radiation Protection (HPKRP) scale, distributed via the online Google Forms. SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Corporation) was used to analyze the data in this study. Malaysian nurses reported the highest knowledge level in radiation pr...
The Journal of Basic and Clinical Health Sciences, 2020
The aim of this study was to compare the medical chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) awareness of emergency healthcare professionals from two different centres. Methods: The survey was conducted among 67 healthcare professionals including physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics from two emergency departments of two different cities. A questionnaire that was designed in order to evaluate demographic data (age, gender, job description, education level) and knowledge/experience about medical CBRN was filled by participants during the face-toface interviews. All data were evaluated statistically in order to obtain mean awareness score (MAS) of participants and institutions. Results: It was found that MAS of the whole participants is 7.62±3.92. There was a statistically significant difference observed between MAS of Training and Research Hospital (6.75±3.97) and State Hospital (8.64±3.65) (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that emergency health professionals should be ready for CBRN incidents and awareness level of health professionals is the most objective indicator of medical CBRN preparedness of emergency departments just like in global COVID-19 outbreak response.
Nursing Outlook, 2018
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Highlights As the largest component of the healthcare sector nurses will be critical to an effective public health response to any event involving a major radiation release and to supporting national security. Despite this certainty, little is known regarding the capacity of US nurses to respond following a large scale radiation release. Despite the fear and chaos surrounding radiation emergencies and a nuclear event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness and research supports that lives can be saved if a rapidly deployed and robust multidisciplinary health care response exists. Post radiation or nuclear event, nurses will be expected to work in a highly stressful disaster environment while performing triage, minimizing radiation exposure, conducting decontamination, treating life-threatening trauma injuries, providing first-aid, and coordinating care for patients. Additional research and a framework is needed for the development of a radiation competent nursing workforce, along with nurse driven clinical response initiatives to mitigate the impact of a large scale radiation release or detonation of a nuclear weapon on the U.S. and global population.
Nursing and Midwifery Studies, 2014
Background: Radiological examinations for patients who are hospitalized at intensive care units are usually performed using portable radiography devices. However they may require knowledge and safety precautions of nurses. Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate ICU nurses' knowledge of radiation safety and their behaviors towards portable radiological examinations. Materials and Methods: In total, 44 intensive care nurses were recruited for this cross-sectional descriptive study using census sampling during April and May 2014. The study setting was at intensive care units of Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan, Iran. An eleven-item questionnaire and a five-item checklist were used for evaluating nurses' radiation protection knowledge and behaviors, respectively. An expert panel consisting of ten nursing and radiology faculty members confirmed the content validity of the questionnaire and the checklist. Moreover, a Geiger-Müller counter was used for measuring ionizing radiation during portable radiological examinations. Study data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 13.0. Mean, standard deviation, frequency and one-sample t test were used for description of the data. The level of significance was set at below 0.05. Results: The mean of participants' radiation protection knowledge was 4.77 ± 1.38. The most prevalent radiation protection behavior of nurses was leaving the intensive care unit during portable radiological examinations. Only 6.8% of nurses stayed at the nursing station during radiological examinations. The highest dose of radiation was 0.11 micro Sievert per hour (μSv/h), which was much lower than the highest permitted level of radiation exposure i.e. 0.25 μSv/h. Conclusions: Portable radiological examinations did not expose healthcare providers to high doses of ionizing radiation. Nurses' radiation protection knowledge was limited and hence, they require in-service education programs.
Health Science Reports
Background: Hazardous Material-Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (HazMat-CBRN) incidents, though infrequent, are environmentally precarious and perilous to living beings. They can be deliberate or accidental or follow the re-emergence of highly contagious diseases. Successful management of such incidents in pre-hospital settings requires having well-trained and prepared healthcare workers. Aims: This study aimed to explore the reliability and validity of a satisfaction survey, answered by Specialized Emergency Management (SEM) personnel from a national Middle Eastern ambulance service, with a "Hazardous Material Incident Management" course offered to them as a continuing professional development activity and seek their opinion regarding Hamad Medical Corporation Ambulance Service personnel needs for other HazMat-CBRN related training topics. Method: In the cross-sectional study, we conducted an online satisfaction survey for this group of course participants to obtain their feedback as subject matter experts. Aiken's content validity coefficient (CVC) was calculated to assess the content validity. Cronbach's α coefficient was determined to explore the survey's reliability. IBM ®-SPSS ® version 26 was utilized to explore the data. Results: The SEM satisfaction survey demonstrated important satisfaction with the implemented training with its robust reliability and content validity (Cronbach's α = 0.922 and CVC = 0.952). The participants also recommended additional related topics. Conclusion: Sustaining and reinforcing the HazMat-CBRN Incident Management course was strongly recommended, considering the increase of HazMat-CBRN threats worldwide.
Nurses are caregivers often involved in assisting and accompanying patients to the Radiology Department for medical exposure to radiation for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Exposure to ionizing radiation without adequate protection is implicated in causing harm to man. The study was designed to evaluate Nurses' knowledge of radiation protection practice as direct care givers in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and the General Hospital (GH) both in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey using self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 220 respondents, selected through simple random sampling technique. Findings revealed that most of the respondents were between age range 22 to 66 with average working experience between 1 year to >21 years. Although, majority of the Nurses (85.0%) like being posted to different wards, only 1.0% like to work in the Department of Radiology, 26.5% inferring that radiation is dangerous. About 50.0% assessment of the respondents had adequate knowledge on the value of radiation as being diagnostic and therapeutic in medical science, 35.5% identified the need to use lead apron for protection, 40.5% said time, distance and barrier were the essential basic protective measures and 90.0% of the respondents had no knowledge on the Protection of Persons Undergoing Medical Exposure or Treatment (POPUMET) regulations with poor attendance on radiation protection training. The study suggests that training of Nurses on this important aspect of care is either absent or appears to be insufficient. It is therefore recommended that conscious efforts be made to train Nurses on the POPUMET regulations in the studied health care institutions.
Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
Background: The emergency department is the entrance gate of patients to a hospital. Hospitals are confronted with major challenges in radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism. Iran is also at risk of disasters, accidents, and threats, so, the possibility of nuclear and radiation accidents cannot be neglected. Objectives: The present study aimed to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 key informants selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Experts were from seven different specialties. Data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method in order to extract the effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals for radiation, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran in 2019. The interviews were held in the cities of Bushehr, Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan from September 2018 to February 2019. Results: Effective factors in emergency department preparedness of hospitals were categorized into staff preparedness, equipment preparedness, and system preparedness with 20 subcategories. The experts emphasized that training courses and exercises could enhance the preparedness and response to these accidents. Conclusions: This study showed that the emergency departments of hospitals in Iran have many challenges. When the country moves towards having nuclear technology, must also provide the infrastructure of the preparedness. There must be an attempt to reduce these challenges by providing financial and structural support. Identifying effective factors in preparation can be helpful in setting up programs for emergency department preparedness of hospitals against nuclear and radiation accidents.