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Disasters occur without warning. Anybody can encounter a distressing situation unexpectedly, and nurses are no exception. Under any circumstances, nurses try to support disaster victims who suffer from anxiety, sadness or distress and to share their feelings and experiences. Such efforts require enormous energy and can traumatize nurses.
Therefore, nurses struck by a disaster are at greater risk of developing PTSD because they suffer dual traumas of the direct disaster experience and victim support activities. It is believed that even if nurses are not primary victims of the disaster, they suffer from the disaster secondarily, by sharing victims' experiences and anguish under abnormal conditions.
In disasters, it often becomes difficult to provide sufficient support services due to a shortage of manpower, water and commodities caused by paralyzed lifelines and transportation systems. In such a situation, you might be frustrated because you cannot do what you could do without difficulty in normal situations. Consequently, conflicts with other nurses or relief workers and others tend to arise. Moreover, in the abnormal situation following a disaster, you may feel powerless when you are burdened with unreasonable expectations and demands without your efforts being recognized.
It is generally believed that many nurses are serious and strenuous workers with a strong sense of responsibility. Even in a distressing situation such as a disaster, nurses try to help grieving victims and solve their problems at any cost. More often than not, nurses try to handle everything by themselves without seeking help.
Nurses working at the shelters tend to neglect their own lives and families. They often fail to recognize their physical and mental fatigue; or, even if they notice such a condition, sometimes they might not be able to take any time off. Many nurses feel guilty about taking a break from work or receiving assistance, out of professional conscience.
As mentioned above, nurses carry out their duties under various stresses, such as nursing activities themselves, the environment and the personal affairs of individual nurses. |
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