The Roles of Nursing Schools in Disaster Management Within the Scope of Advanced Disaster Nursing: A Scoping Review

AIM: The aim of this study was to identify and summarize the roles of nursing schools in disaster management within the context of advanced disaster nursing. BACKGROUND: Little is known of the roles, responsibilities and concrete contributions of nursing schools in disaster management. METHODS: This study was conducted as a scoping review. This scoping review was conducted following the five-stage methodological framework and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. EBSCO, PubMed, Science Direct, Medline, Proquest, Web of Science and Scopus were searched to find articles. Only articles in English published in the last 25 years were considered, and 16 articles were included in the study. The included articles were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: Nursing schools exhibit notable gaps in disaster preparedness and response processes, with particular emphasis on the need to clearly define disaster-specific roles and strengthen leadership. Thematic analysis yielded two main themes and corresponding subthemes that directly address the research questions: (1) Roles of nursing schools in disaster (education and preparedness, simulation and practical experience, psychosocial support skills, collaboration and coordination, public health and prevention strategies, rapid decision-making and stress management); and (2) efforts of nursing schools to develop advanced disaster nursing knowledge (collaboration and stakeholder relations, leadership and management skills, sustainability and assessment, community engagement and awareness). CONCLUSIONS: Nursing schools play multifaceted and comprehensive roles in disaster contexts, actively adopting diverse approaches to advance disaster management nursing knowledge and competencies.