Nurses want more training and social supports put in place so they'll be ready to deal with future emergencies, such as disasters or a pandemic, a new report says.

The report, released Thursday, is entitled Caring for Nurses in Public Health Emergencies, and was put together over 3½ years. It included a review of existing literature, focus groups with nurses, a survey of more than 1,500 nurses and an analysis of pandemic preparedness plans.

A clear picture emerged from coast to coast, according to lead researcher Carol Amaratunga, chair of the Women's Health Research Unit at the University of Ottawa.

"Nurses told us that much more needs to be done in terms of providing human resource support and social support to really help them to be prepared and trained to deal with emergencies, and also, importantly, to help them balance their work and family life," she said from Ottawa.

Ninety per cent of the nurses in Canada are women and many have families, she said. If they're put into quarantine during an infectious disease outbreak, as many were during the SARS emergency of 2003 in Toronto, they will face tremendous stress trying to balance their professional call to duty with their home life and care-giving responsibilities, Amaratunga said.

She said social supports would make a big difference.

"In the event that they're ... required to work under quarantine or in quarantine for an extended period, they can do so knowing confidently that someone is taking care of their family," she said.

Better tools, communication needed

Two other categories of concern were identified by the focus groups and survey respondents. The first area involved the need for "instrumental support," which would involve protective equipment, training, drills and education that would help nurses do their jobs during a disaster situation.

In addition, frontline health-care workers are asking for better communication about emergency plans in their hospitals and nursing homes, as well as timely information in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.

Amaratunga pointed out that many health-care workers are part-time and casual employees who don't always have access to the drills and training for full-time employees.

Della Faulkner, health policy consultant for the Canadian Nurses Association, said the CNA believes that nurses are, in fact, well equipped to respond to emergencies and to prepare for emergencies.

"They've got the science basis to understand needed interventions, and because of our communication skills and access and partners that they have with communities, they're already in a position to do the teaching that's involved in emergency preparedness," she said.

She agreed with the need for more training and communication in hospital settings but said good supports are available online from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"What's key is making sure that employers are providing time for nurses to access those resources," she said.

The CNA is working with other partners to ensure "healthy workplaces," she said, adding that a project is in development to ensure nurses receive early warning advisories about emergencies.

"You need to be personally prepared for an emergency," she said. "But we're also supporting nurses to have conversations, engage with their employers to understand what is the emergency preparedness plan for that organization."

During the ice storm a decade ago in Brockville, Ont., she said staff needed to stay overnight at the psychiatric hospital to care for patients, and they were provided with food and places to shower and sleep between shifts.

"In the case of Brockville, there were opportunities for, in some cases, for family members to come and access some of those basic survival supports."

Individual organizations need to make these accommodations a little differently based on what they do and the resources they have, she added.

The report was funded by the Department of National Defence, and published by Canadian Policy Research Networks. Amaratunga said policy makers and provincial departments of health will be among those getting copies.