Enhancing Emergency Nurses' Disaster Nursing Ability and Psychological Resilience: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate emergency nurses' disaster nursing ability and psychological resilience, validate the effectiveness of a training system for disaster nursing ability based on psychological resilience, and verify the relationship between psychological resilience and disaster nursing ability among emergency nurses. METHODS: A training system was developed to enhance psychological resilience and disaster nursing ability. A multicenter, randomized controlled experiment was conducted in five Grade III hospitals in Sichuan Province. A total of 93 emergency nurses were randomly assigned to the following three groups: the blank group, intervention group, and control group. The corresponding interventions were as follows: no intervention, psychological resilience, and nurses' disaster nursing ability training. Personal information forms, the Connor–Davidson Resiliency Scale, and the Nurses' Disaster Nursing Ability Assessment Scale were used in the survey. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the scores of psychological resilience and disaster nursing ability in the blank group in the pretest and posttest (P > 0.05). The disaster nursing ability of both the intervention and control groups significantly improved in the posttest (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the intervention group demonstrated significant improvement in psychological resilience in the posttest (P < 0.05). However, there was no statistical difference in psychological resilience scores in the control group in the pretest and posttest (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study concluded that the psychological resilience and disaster nursing ability of emergency nurses could be enhanced through the implemented training system.