Improving Student Engagement in Community Disaster Preparedness

Background: Recent events continue to demonstrate the need for effective community-level disaster preparedness. Nurses remain key figures in supporting local response efforts and disaster education for unexpected events. Problem: Although improved efforts have promoted disaster nursing practice knowledge, nursing education remains challenged in engaging students in disaster management efforts. Approach: Students collaborated over 4 semesters to assess and deliver a variety of disaster-related interventions to the community. Outcomes: The multisemester project improved students' understanding of disaster nursing, the nursing program's engagement with community partners, and community members' knowledge and ability for emergency preparedness. Conclusion: The project was instrumental in improving the community's awareness and engagement of the regional nursing programs in community-based emergency response. The details of the project are provided for replication by other faculty and nursing programs.