YELİZ SUNA DAĞ, SÜMEYYE ÖZARSLAN, MEHMET EMİN DÜKEN
Acta Medica Ruha - 2025;3(1):6-15
Introduction: Children are one of the groups most affected by disasters. Health professionals have an important role to play in the protection and development of children’s health in disasters. It is important and necessary to support nurses and nurse candidates, who are a numerically strong group among health professionals, with training in emergency management of children in disasters to reduce the risks that may occur. Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of paediatric emergency disaster plan training for nursing students. Method: This study was conducted as a qualitative study with 40 students studying in the nursing department of a university who participated in the child emergency disaster plan training. An introductory information form and a semi-structured interview form were used to collect the study data. Results: The mean age of the nursing students who participated in our study was 22.5±0.7 years and 66.6% of them were female. It was found that 92.5% of the students had not received any training on disaster and emergency management in children and 77.5% of them had no information on disaster and emergency plans for children in hospitals. As a result of the analysis of the data, 5 themes were identified: creating a special disaster management plan for children, organising children’s emergency services, ensuring and protecting the safety of children, managing orphaned children and providing coordination. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that the level of knowledge and awareness of nursing students about emergency disaster management for children was inadequate. However, it was found that the training received by the students helped them to become aware of critical issues such as disaster emergency planning for children, organisation of emergency services and management of orphaned children.
