When Disaster Strikes: Lessons in Nursing Preparedness and Recovery

In this episode of Nursing EDge Unscripted, Dr. Kellie Bryant is joined by disaster nursing experts Dr. Tara Heagele and Dr. Jamla Rizek to discuss how nurse educators can better prepare students for disasters, emergencies, and disruptions. They emphasize that disaster nursing is a professional responsibility for every nurse and that preparedness requires more than classroom instruction, including experiential learning, simulation, drills, and interprofessional collaboration. The guests offer practical strategies for integrating disaster nursing competencies throughout the existing curriculum, including clinical judgment, leadership, triage, incident command, ethical decision-making, and psychological first aid. They also stress the importance of recognizing that disasters do not affect all communities equally and preparing nurses to identify and address barriers related to social determinants of health, disability, transportation, language, and other sources of vulnerability. The episode concludes with a call for nurse educators to use the NLN's disaster and emergency preparedness resources and to make disaster readiness an integral part of nursing education and professional identity. Learn more about disaster preparedness:NLN Vision Statement: Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery available at https://www.nln.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/nln-disaster-vision-statement.pdf?sfvrsn=6715683d_1.Rizek J. (2025). Disaster Nursing for Early Career Emergency Nurses. Journal of emergency nursing, 51(4), 537–547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2025.03.020Morante, Pedro E., "Recovering After Disaster: Practical Strategies for Responder Well-Being" (2026). General Webinars. 95. https://www.sigmarepository.org/general_webinars/95Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the leading organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. Find past episodes of the NLN Nursing EDge podcast online. Get instant updates by following the NLN on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. For more information, visit NLN.org.