Abstract
Taiwan, located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, experiences frequent earthquakes and typhoons while also facing geopolitical tension. Strengthening community resilience has therefore become essential. Public health centers serve as frontline agencies in disaster response, yet staff often lack formal training beyond infectious disease control. This study evaluated a disaster preparedness program developed and delivered by an emergency medicine nurse practitioner (ENP) for public health center personnel in central Taiwan.
From October 29 to November 22, 2024, five of 13 health centers in Nantou County participated. Centers selected staff expected to support post-disaster medical station operations. Participants represented six occupational categories: nurses, physicians, other medical personnel, administrative/logistics staff, volunteers, and nursing students. Training (8–16 hours) covered mass-casualty concepts, medical station setup, hemorrhage control, wound management, the Incident Command System, and the CSCA-TTT model . Each session concluded with team-based disaster simulations.
A 25-item pre-/post-test assessed three domains: mass-casualty and medical station concepts , disaster wound management , and core elements of Taiwan’s Resilient National Healthcare Preparedness Plan . Descriptive statistics, score ratios, and paired t-tests were used, with significance set at p< 0.01.
Sixty-six participants completed assessments. Overall scores increased from 55.2 to 71.2. Significant improvements were found across all centers and occupational groups (p=0.0088; p=0.00008). Mass-casualty and station-concept scores improved by a mean of 18.62% (p=0.00001), and wound-management scores improved by 19.45% (p=0.00107). Knowledge gains for the Resilient National Plan were inconsistent and not statistically significant. Satisfaction ratings were high for instructor effectiveness. Participants reported increased confidence in triage, teamwork, and medical station setup.
This study supports the effectiveness of ENP-led interdisciplinary disaster training for frontline health personnel. Simulation-based learning enhanced essential competencies across diverse roles. Findings highlight the importance of integrating emergency-experienced nurse practitioners into community preparedness strategies to strengthen local disaster capacity. Future training should expand and refine modules related to the Resilient National Plan to ensure more comprehensive knowledge acquisition.
Notes
References:
1.Ching, M. S., & Cheng, Y. C. (2021). Enhancing community disaster preparedness through interprofessional education: A systematic review. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 53(4), 456–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12650
2.Fung, O. W. M., & Loke, A. Y. (2021). Nurses’ roles in disaster preparedness and response: A literature review. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 52, 101967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101967
3.Hsu, E. B., Saberi, P., & Wu, Y. C. (2022). Public health workforce readiness for emergencies: Gaps and training priorities. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 16(4), 1460–1467. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2021.36
4.Kaji, A. H., Koenig, K. L., & Lewis, R. J. (2019). Current trends in disaster medicine training for healthcare professionals. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, 37(3), 453–470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emc.2019.04.001
5.Kim, J., Sharman, R., & Rao, H. (2020). Improving mass-casualty triage decision-making: Effects of training and simulation. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 138, 104133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2020.104133
6.Tsai, C. H., Chan, T. C., & Lin, C. H. (2023). Strengthening Taiwan’s community health resilience: Lessons from emergency response training. BMC Public Health, 23, 1124. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16392-5
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Pretest-Posttest
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Acute Care, Interprofessional Initiatives, Public Health, Community Health Services, Resilience, Hardiness, Disaster Planning, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Nurse Practitioners, Taiwan
Recommended Citation
Su, Po-Hsi; Lin, Jun-Dai; Lee, Yi-Hui; Yu, Shun-Shiang; and Liang, Yi-Fen, "Building Resilience in Public Health Centers: Outcomes of an ENP-Led Disaster Program" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 237.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/237
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-08-29
Building Resilience in Public Health Centers: Outcomes of an ENP-Led Disaster Program
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Taiwan, located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, experiences frequent earthquakes and typhoons while also facing geopolitical tension. Strengthening community resilience has therefore become essential. Public health centers serve as frontline agencies in disaster response, yet staff often lack formal training beyond infectious disease control. This study evaluated a disaster preparedness program developed and delivered by an emergency medicine nurse practitioner (ENP) for public health center personnel in central Taiwan.
From October 29 to November 22, 2024, five of 13 health centers in Nantou County participated. Centers selected staff expected to support post-disaster medical station operations. Participants represented six occupational categories: nurses, physicians, other medical personnel, administrative/logistics staff, volunteers, and nursing students. Training (8–16 hours) covered mass-casualty concepts, medical station setup, hemorrhage control, wound management, the Incident Command System, and the CSCA-TTT model . Each session concluded with team-based disaster simulations.
A 25-item pre-/post-test assessed three domains: mass-casualty and medical station concepts , disaster wound management , and core elements of Taiwan’s Resilient National Healthcare Preparedness Plan . Descriptive statistics, score ratios, and paired t-tests were used, with significance set at p< 0.01.
Sixty-six participants completed assessments. Overall scores increased from 55.2 to 71.2. Significant improvements were found across all centers and occupational groups (p=0.0088; p=0.00008). Mass-casualty and station-concept scores improved by a mean of 18.62% (p=0.00001), and wound-management scores improved by 19.45% (p=0.00107). Knowledge gains for the Resilient National Plan were inconsistent and not statistically significant. Satisfaction ratings were high for instructor effectiveness. Participants reported increased confidence in triage, teamwork, and medical station setup.
This study supports the effectiveness of ENP-led interdisciplinary disaster training for frontline health personnel. Simulation-based learning enhanced essential competencies across diverse roles. Findings highlight the importance of integrating emergency-experienced nurse practitioners into community preparedness strategies to strengthen local disaster capacity. Future training should expand and refine modules related to the Resilient National Plan to ensure more comprehensive knowledge acquisition.
Description
This study evaluated an emergency nurse practitioner–led disaster preparedness program for public health center personnel in Taiwan. Training covered mass-casualty concepts, wound management, medical station setup, and simulation exercises. Pre/post-test results from 66 participants showed significant knowledge gains in key disaster-response domains. Findings highlight the value of ENP-led interdisciplinary training and its potential to strengthen community disaster resilience.