Nursing roles in disaster zones: Experiences and lessons from Turkey's 2023 earthquakes

Background: Disasters affect human health and well-being globally. Nursing plays a vital role in disaster preparedness and response, ensuring efficient early care coordination and delivering effective field treatment. Aim: This study investigates the challenges an Israeli humanitarian delegation encountered during their response to major earthquakes in Turkey in 2023. It explicitly focuses on difficulties in preparation, operations, and collaboration with local teams. The study further analyzes the findings and extracts valuable lessons from the mission. Methods: Using a qualitative descriptive design, 22 out of 32 nurses involved in delegation participated in three focus group discussions within two months of returning to Israel. The discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically. The study followed the COREQ guidelines, ensuring comprehensive reporting and methodological rigor in qualitative research. Findings: The study's main findings spanned predeparture preparation, mission challenges in the disaster zone, and postmission lessons, each highlighted by subthemes and participant quotations. A strong sense of mission was evident among the participants, along with frustration at inefficient time management prior to deployment. Many participants noted additional challenges, related to the difficulty of working in multiple languages and across cultures, and the opportunities for resolution. Finally, participants called for better psychological support following the mission. Conclusion: Nurses in disaster zones offer valuable insights to enhance preparation, cross-cultural communication, and postmission implementation. Nursing and health policy implications: Nurse managers and healthcare policymakers can utilize this study's findings to develop future nursing training programs in disaster-related skills. Additionally, it can help foster collaboration among international healthcare teams.