Nurses Can Play a Role in Preventing Mass Shootings

When appropriate, we share Facebook posts about praying for and fascinated by victims of mass shootings. just like the shooting on the Las Vegas Strip last month.

As a result, some have called for tougher gun laws. Others have said it’s too early to debate any motion, that Americans first must pause and reflect — and honor the mourning period. On Sunday, it happened again. A shooter opened fire, killing 26 innocent people and wounding 20 others who were attending church services. The victims ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years old. It’s clear that there’s no time to attend before we start in search of solutions.

What are our responsibilities as nurses within the event of a mass shooting?

Growing up in Washington state, I used to be around guns rather a lot. I remember kids in my highschool driving around with rifles of their trucks so that they could hunt after school—no less than until the college gun ban of the Nineteen Nineties. I don’t remember there being many mass shootings. Churches, live shows, schools, malls, nightclubs. No one is totally protected from being a victim of a mass shooting anywhere as of late. So what will we do? Do we pray and think concerning the victims and their families? Yes. Prayer and thoughts are a part of compassion. In “Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements: Development, Interpretation, and Application, 2nd Edition,” Margreet Van der Cingel is quoted as saying that “compassion is a response to suffering, even though it doesn’t make the suffering go away…compassion is the morally right thing to express.”

Do we want to act? Yes. Between now and the subsequent time we’ve got a shooting in our community, all of us need to organize. The ANA Code of Ethics applies to mass casualty incidents, whether it’s a mass shooting or a natural disaster.

The five guiding principles were developed within the face of increased mass casualty incidents to be able to change standards or care beyond the conventional, on a regular basis type, as outlined within the guide. While all five principles are very essential, it’s essential for me to indicate two specific principles.

• states the aim [after a mass casualty event] ought to be to maintain healthcare systems functioning and ensure adequate quality of care to be able to save as many lives as possible.
• states that mass casualty medical and health planning have to be comprehensive, community-based and regionally coordinated.

What is your hospital, clinic, nursing home or home care agency doing to organize to assist in case your community is next? Do you already know what you’d do? Who would you call? Can you are available and help at short notice? Who will care on your children, pets or seniors?

Start a discussion on how one can stop mass shootings

American Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency The Department of Homeland Security has disaster training materials which might be great resources to offer you a spot to begin professionally and personally. Continuing education courses are also a superb solution to prepare at the side of exercises conducted inside your healthcare organization. But what else can we do? We need to interact our community within the conversation about how one can prevent mass shootings. There won’t be one clear motion or step, but many. We all need to go away our biases and judgments on the door. Do we want a policy to resolve this? Yes. According to the Guide to the Code of Ethics, “Policies are linked to problems or issues and provide strategies to address them.”

Politics takes place in any respect levels, from local hospitals to national health organizations. The ANA Code of Ethics states, “Nurses are, can, and should be involved in politics at any and all of these levels.”

Nurses are great at evidence-based practice. Nurses can and may share or lead the policy process in our communities as we seek answers and solutions. Using an evidence-based approach that’s more comprehensive than evidence-based practice will leverage multiple forms of data, including clinical knowledge, ethical understanding, patient and family (community) values, beliefs and preferences, and theories, amongst others. Because most individuals have what they imagine is one answer, whether it’s gun control or improved mental health services, this process will allow for a wealthy dialogue during which everyone seems to be heard and acknowledged, and together we are able to create an answer.

This issue could seem too big and complicated for us to reply—too political, too polarizing, even perhaps too confusing to start with. But allow us to remember what Florence Nightingale once said: “How little fear can accomplish.”

Every time we fail to act, we reinforce the assumption of the one that is currently planning the subsequent mass shooting. We know from the recent history of this country that there’s a high probability that somebody may very well be planning the subsequent mass shooting straight away. This person knows from recent similarly abhorrent acts that we—nurses, legislators, and most of the people—haven’t found out how one can stop it. Some of us are afraid to alienate family, friends, family members, or coworkers by having an evidence-based conversation that may go a great distance toward determining how one can prevent or anticipate one of these aggressive behavior. While we may not give you the chance to stop the subsequent one by continuing to have these conversations, we are able to slow it down, ultimately stopping most of it.

But we’ve got to do something. “The health of the nation and the globe requires the involvement of nurses at every level of program and policy; it cannot improve without us.”

Trauma-related courses

Patients with abdominal trauma can rapidly progress to hypovolemic shock or death, making them a priority within the emergency department. This module provides healthcare professionals with information on the incidence, etiology, identification, and treatment of abdominal trauma. The commonest mechanisms of injury are discussed, as is the necessity for rapid diagnosis and stabilization. In addition, this module discusses the essential role that nurses and other healthcare professionals play during this critical period in managing patients and families in crisis. In the clinical setting, a wide range of diagnostic tools and laboratory tests are useful in assessing patients with trauma. However, within the initial phase of treatment, crucial steps include performing an intensive physical examination and obtaining a patient history. Initial evaluation and treatment of patients with blunt chest trauma is important to make sure the most effective possible final result. Traumatic brain injury, also often known as acquired brain injury or head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes some level of brain injury. The leading reason behind TBI in civilians is falls, accounting for 35% of TBI, with one other 17% being related to motorized vehicle accidents. In the case of TBI, visible injuries could also be present, but probably the most serious risk would be the invisible ones. TBI affects roughly 1.7 million people per yr within the United States. This module provides healthcare professionals with details about brain injuries, including epidemiology, kinds of injuries, signs and symptoms, and nursing assessment, intervention, and evaluation.