Military Nurses' Professional Competencies in Disasters and Emergency: Systematic Review

Background and Aim: Nurses play an important role in responding to natural disasters. The aim of this study was to describe the functional dimensions and professional competencies of military nurses in disasters and emergencies. Methods: This study is a systematic review. In order to review and explain the professional competency of military nurses in disasters and emergencies, 100 published papers during January 2000 to July 2019 were selected through searching in the scientific databases such as Scopus, Elsevier, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Google Scholar and SID, using the keywords emergence or disaster preparedness and core competency of nurses in disaster or emergence, and nursing and nurses military nursing or military nurses and the role of military nursing. After considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 13 articles related to the research topic were studied and reviewed. Results: Nurses' roles can be categorized into three areas: professional competence, leadership, and operations. These roles including care based on professional competencies, organizational competencies, leadership and management of medical teams, vital and special care in difficult conditions, safe transfer and evacuation of injured, care of injured in disaster (Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive), protecting oneself and others (personal protection), battlefield triage, moral resilience and psychological support, caring for vulnerable and high-risk individuals and out-of-scope nursing roles. Although some of these roles overlap with the civilian nurses, others emphasize the special and unique roles of military nurses. Conclusion: Considering the necessity of providing high quality and safe services at the highest possible level of injuries in various areas, especially in times of crisis and disasters, and the effective presence of military nurses in all stages of a disaster incidents. It is required that all military nurses benefit from the training and development of useful knowledge in order to implement long-term medical care programs for injured people in crisis situations.