Assessment
Gathering data about assigned patients/families/communities on which to base subsequent nursing actions.
Assessments by nurses are critical to recognizing emergencies and ensuring rapid physical and mental health care during these events.
Academic Articles and Books
Health Data Collection Before, During and After Emergencies and Disasters—The Result of the Kobe Expert Meeting – International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2019)
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050893
- Recounts discussions during a 2018 meeting of the Asia Pacific Conference for Disaster Medicine specifically addressing health data collection before, during, and after emergencies and disasters.
Enabling Rapid and Sustainable Public Health Research During Disasters: Summary of a Joint Workshop by the Institute of Medicine and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Chapter 6, Improving Data Collection Capabilities and Information Resources (2015)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK285425/
- Provides an overarching assessment of data needs and collection mechanisms during disasters.
Guidance and Training Documents
Can health care information be shared in a severe disaster? – HHS (2005)
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/960/can-health-care-information-be-shared-in-a-severe-disaster/index.html
- Guidance from the United States Department of Health and Human Services on how to manage data sharing as health professionals responding to a disaster.
Long-term Follow-up Before, During and After a Disaster – Minnesota Department of Health (2022)
https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/tracking/projects/disasterepi.html
- Describes “disaster epidemiology,” the broad phase of data collection encompassing the time when assessment occurs.
If Disaster Strikes, Will Your Patients Have Access to Their Medical Records? –Texas Medical Association (2018) https://www.texmed.org/TexasMedicineDetail.aspx?id=48693
- Outlines ways to enable better data movement during a disaster.
