Western Governor’s University
Nurses play a major role in responding to natural or man-made disasters. They are often on the frontlines of the recovery effort. It is crucial to understand their role and how they collaborate with others on the response team to ensure a positive outcome.
There is a definitive chain of command in the wake of a disaster. In our scenario, it is a three-tiered staff. At the highest level is the incident commander. No matter the size of the incident, there is always one leader appointed. This role assumes overall management of the entire incident and is updated by appointed staff in specific areas. Critical roles include ensuring staff’s safety, providing information services, and maintaining a good working relationship with other services (IS-100.HCb). Reports by staff in other disciplines are given to the incident commander frequently throughout the initial every phase in the disaster.
The second tier in the chain of command consists of the public health information officer who acts as a liaison with the news medical and for coordinating all news media activity at the incident, and a liaison officer who is responsible for interacting with other organizations that do not become part of the incident command system structure. At the functional level, the operations chief assumes responsibility of developing and implementing strategies to carry out the incident objectives. The planning chief manages the planning process to compile the incident plan; they are always looking forward to the needs of the team. To ensure that resources and services are obtained to support the achievement of the incident objectives, the logistics chief makes contact outside resources. Finally, the finance/administration chief aids in monitoring costs. The provide accounting, procurement, time recording, and costa analyses to ensure that funding is being utilized efficiently