Download or read book Learning From Disasters - How Do We Share the Knowledge and Experience? written by Polly Grainger and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learning from disasters: how do we share the knowledge and experience?Introduction:Understanding the difficulties of sharing knowledge generated from disaster situations is essential to allowing for a better process of disseminating the u2018lessons learnedu2019 from the ongoing natural and manmade situations which result in healthcare crises.Aim:To explore nurses ways of gaining knowledge from previous experiences, with a particular focus on earthquakes and natural disasters, in the New Zealand (NZ) setting.Method:Initial analysis of a series of individual, semi-structured interviews with a small group (n=10) of emergency department registered nurses from a range of geographical areas in NZ.Results:While familiar with the major earthquake events that have recently affected different areas of NZ (most notably Canterbury, Kaikoura and Wellington), few could recall detailed information or lessons generated from these events. When asked about the most effective means of learning about and from disasters, direct experience was identified as the most effective followed by narrative retelling and vicarious experience.Discussion: Recognition of the value of u2018story-tellingu2019 in sharing information, and of the importance of offering experiences in a way that allows colleagues to experience or place themselves in the situation in a u2018virtualu2019 sense is necessary for learning to occur. This involves an emotional as well as an intellectual connection to occur. There is a risk for knowledge to be lost, and lessons to be constantly u2018re-learntu2019, as each succeeding generation needs direct involvement to retain the information and insight generated. We need to tailor the medium by which this information is shared, for maximum effect.