When the question of what the nurse’s primary roles are during a disaster comes into question, it can be very hard to reflect on what the nurse should do. It can be difficult because, during a terrible situation, a nurse must decide which patients need more care than others. A nurse’s primary roles include knowing the EOP or Emergency Operations Plan and implementing it during a situation. A nurse must know which patients to care for and which require immediate attention. If the nurse is in the hospital when the disaster occurs, they must know who the medical command and triage officer is, this will help the nurse understand their assignment and help the most patients. Nurses must also be aware of the emergency codes at their hospitals to be fully prepared for any disaster that may happen while they are working. During a mass causality event, a nurse must be able to detect a patient’s problem as red, yellow, green, white, or black. After the nurse understands what each patent is tagged as they can care for the most critical patients first. The priorities in any disaster event are to be fast with your care, assess the patient for a pulse, limit treatment to only what the patient needs to survive, maintain the airway, and control bleeding. As a nurse, the priorities during a disaster are to be fast and provide the best care possible for the greatest number of patients.

            In the event of a disaster, nurses may struggle with ethical codes between saving the patient or saving themselves. This topic can be extremely difficult to discuss because the main goal of a nurse is to provide the best care for their patients. I believe that as a nurse, in the event of a natural and man-made disaster, you should prioritize the patients if you are safe and unharmed. If you’re unable to provide the best care to your patients because you have been injured, then it is the nurse’s duty to care for himself or herself. In my opinion, nurses should always prioritize their patients unless they are injured and cannot provide adequate care to their patients.