Disaster content varies in Australian postgraduate tertiary emergency nursing courses: Implications for educational preparedness

This presentation outlined the findings of a research project that explored the type and amount of disaster content in postgraduate emergency nursing programs in Australia. In 2009, twelve Australian universities offered programs specific to emergency nursing. Of these, ten participated in this project.

The type and amount of disaster content varied between all Australian postgraduate emergency nursing programs. Some programs did not discuss disasters at all, whilst had discussions regarding disasters embedded within other course content. A number included disaster content as a stand-alone topic.

Commonly, content relating to disasters was delivered by the program convenor or an expert clinician. The type of delivery varied from didactic to workshop style presentations. This presentation outlined the need for consensus and consistency in the delivery of postgraduate studies, using disasters as the context to this discussion.


Ranse J, Arbon P, Shaban R, Considine J, Mitchell B, Lenson S. (2011). Disaster content varies in Australian postgraduate emergency nursing courses: Implications for educational preparedness; paper presented at the 17th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Beijing, China, 31st May.

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Understanding the willingness of Australian emergency nurses to respond to a health care disaster

This poster was presented at the 17th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, in Beijing, China. This research project aimed to explore the willingness of emergency nurses to work in a disaster. This study used a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. Firstly, a national survey was undertaken, circulated via the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia, the Australian College of Emergency Nursing and in four partner hospitals in Australia. Secondly, a number of focus groups were undertaken at the partner hospitals. Finally, individual interviews were conducted with participants who had previously participated in a focus group session.

This poster highlights some of the preliminary findings from this project.


Arbon P, Cusack L, Ranse J, Shaban R, Considine J, Mitchell B, Hammond K, Kako M, Bahnisch L. (2011). Understanding the willingness of Australian emergency nurses to respond to a health care disaster; poster presented at the 17th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Beijing, China, 31st May – 3rd June.

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Data collection: Quantitative research

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of quantitative data collection methods. The chapter includes tables, graphs and illustrations to demonstrate the key concepts. In this chapter, I contributed to the discussion relating to the use of technology to collect quantitative data. In particular this related to the pros and cons of using internet based surveys, and the use of PDAs to collect fieldwork type information.

Taylor J, Ranse J. (2011). Chapter 10: Data Collection: Quantitative Research in Jirojwong S, Johnson M, Welch A (eds). Reseach Methods in Nursing and Midwifery: Pathways to Evidence-Based Practice. Oxford University Press.

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How Can I Help? Improving Midwifery Responses to International Disasters: Panelist

I was a panelist on a discussion regarding the Midwifery response to disasters. The discussion covered various aspects, such as personal experiences, organisational participation and social media integration. I discussed what we already know about the Nursing response to disasters, and made inferences to where Midwifery is at in terms of this knowledge. In particular, I focused on the role, education and willingness of Nurses and Midwives.

The conference: International Day of the Midwife "The world needs midwives today, more than ever" was a free online conference as part of the International Day of the Midwife 2011. The session titled How Can I Help? Improving Midwifery Responses to International Disasters was lead by Sarah Stewart.

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