The Integration of Simulation in Development of Nurses’ competencies in Natural Disaster Situation : A Scoping Review

Abstract

Nurses preparedness and competencies are of paramount importance in disaster situations. The adverse effect of both natural and man-made disasters is alarming all over the globe, a myopic knowledge cannot deal with the myriad of these disasters rather an in-depth knowledge, skills and competencies are essential to combat them. This research work seeks to examine how simulation studies are being applied in natural disaster situations and how useful simulation studies are in enhancing nurses’ knowledge and their competences in disaster situations. A scoping literature review methodology was used to examine a final number of 13 articles from previous 201 research papers available between year (2012-2017) after duplicated articles were discarded. Data compiled from these articles were classified based on: authors, years, area of focus and collating, summarizing & results reporting. The results extracted from the final data were analyzed by highlighting certain similarities, making comparisons, assertions, and conclusions. Results indicate that, Simulation can be cost effective approach to minimized and prepared for disasters, as well as means of improving nurses’ competencies in disaster situations. The research question; can simulation improve nurses’ competencies in natural disaster situations was answered in affirmative.