Pre-deployment training for nurses ensures readiness.

A quantitative descriptive research methodology was used to conduct an anonymous survey distributed to all registered nurses deployed in 2017 to Hurricane Maria with a hospital-supported team and a federal team. The project sought to improve the pre-deployment preparation experience of nurses to positively impact nurses' willingness to redeploy. The survey was administered for ten days in January 2021.

This quantitative descriptive study sought to understand nurses’ perceptions of their readiness for deployment during a disaster response. Thirty-nine surveys were distributed with a 46% response rate (n = 18).

Gender was not related to agreement with the role variable (p = 0.070). Marital status was significantly related to role (p = 0.015), as was age (p = 0.022). Single individuals and individuals >50 yo were more likely to agree that they understood their role during the disaster.

Gender was not related to agreement with the preparedness variable (p = 0.465), nor was marital status (p = 0.067). Age was significantly related to perceptions of preparedness (p = 0.004). Individuals >50 yo were more likely to respond that they were prepared for their deployment.

Gender was not related to perceptions of knowledge of providing clinical care during a disaster (p = 0.235), nor was marital status (p = 0.627) or age (p = 0.674).

The results suggest that single nurses > 50 yo with more years of nursing experience who have previously deployed may understand the role better and feel more prepared to deploy.

However, their responses do not indicate that they feel more knowledgeable about the type of nursing care they are expected to provide in a disaster response.