Understanding Nursing's Role in Health Systems Response to Large-Scale Radiologic Disasters

• Guidance for the optimal management of victims/patient surge after a radiologic disaster is limited, and many nurses remain unprepared for a large-scale radiation disaster.
• History suggests that hospital and public health emergency management response plans may be insufficient to accommodate the patient surge, health system burden, and the fear and uncertainty that characterize these types of events.
• Lessons learned from Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accidents can inform nurse preparedness efforts.
• Nurse involvement may potentially include disaster response; the establishment of community reception centers for population screening and monitoring; decontamination; shelter management; and the psychosocial support of victims, families, co-workers, and the community impacted by the event.

Guidance for the optimal management of patient surge after a radiologic disaster is limited and rarely taught in schools of nursing or staff development/continuing education programs. To prepare and respond to this low-frequency, high-impact event, nurses require a substantive body of knowledge and skill set on which to base both public health and acute care preparedness and response efforts. Hospital and public health emergency management response plans may be insufficient to accommodate the patient surge, health system burden, and the fear and uncertainty that characterize these types of events. Lessons learned from Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accidents can inform nurse preparedness efforts by providing information on what can be expected throughout the disaster life cycle of these catastrophic events. Nurse involvement may potentially include site response; the establishment of community reception centers for population screening and monitoring; decontamination; shelter management; and the psychosocial support of victims, families, co-workers, and the community impacted by the event.