Principles of Leadership and Advanced Clinical Practice in Emergency Preparedness

This course teaches nurses and other health care professionals the principles required to prevent/mitigate, prepare for, facilitate, manage and coordinate prompt and effective management and recovery for a wide variety of major emergency and disaster situations within local, national, and global contexts.

Four key emergency management components are addressed: Prevention and Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. An all hazards approach is emphasized including natural and human-induced hazards and disasters. Natural events such as hurricanes , technological events such as explosions, human events such as terrorism, special events such as mass gatherings, and context hazards such as climate change will be considered. Hospital and public health/community management approaches will be addressed with a focus on empowering people through prevention/education and fostering community resilience.

Topics that will be covered include the principles guiding emergency management, disaster life cycle, disaster action planning, human responses in major emergency/disaster situations, key ethical/cultural/legal issues, mass casualty triage, managing emergency related infectious diseases, personal safety and security, surge capacity, community resilience, and leadership. Health will be considered within a Primary Health Care context as identified by the WHO’s (2008) document: Primary Health Care: Now More Than Ever.

Students are expected to prepare for & participate actively in the seminars, to learn within communities of learning, and to lead one of the class seminars together with peers. This course is developed for nurses and other health care professionals as well as for individuals who may be involved in emergency management for public health emergencies. In-class 3 hours/week

Program Requirements Course Type: Core Course Clinical Field