Author Type

Undergraduate Student

Publication Date

Winter 3-2026

Document Type

Report

Executive Summary

Building Undergraduate Nursing Student Confidence to Volunteer in Case of Disaster

This paper provides a brief overview of one project in an ongoing collaboration between the nursing department, the Office of Safety and Security, and Health Services at a private university in the Pacific Northwest. The partnership aims to improve disaster response capacity on campus by preparing nursing students to volunteer in medical triage. It builds on a previous project that created a protocol for volunteers and outlined education recommendations (Sebastian et al., 2025). The goal of this project was to create reusable training resources to increase nursing student knowledge and confidence, leading to more capable volunteers and improved outcomes in the event of a disaster.

Background

The private, urban university serves approximately 2100 students, including 1700 undergraduates, and employs about 700 staff and faculty members. Of the student body, 48% of undergraduates live on campus. Nursing is the second most popular major at the university. The university's Emergency Management & Crisis response plan includes nursing students as a potential resource in disaster situations, such as earthquakes, where emergency medical care is required, and outside assistance to campus is limited. According to the Seattle Office of Emergency Management [SOEM] (2019), the greatest disaster threats to the area are earthquakes, severe weather events, and cyberattacks or disruptions. The likelihood of Seattle experiencing a moderate to severe earthquake in the next 50 years is 84% (SOEM, 2023). Due to the area’s steep terrain and bridges, the university may be isolated for days or weeks following an earthquake, which makes a strong disaster response plan critically important (SOEM, 2019).

Activities with rationale

The goal of this project was to expand on the work of Sebastian et al. (2025) and improve nursing student readiness to volunteer in case of a disaster on campus. Sebastian et al. created a badge buddy card with instructions on how to report for volunteering in a disaster. The card also includes a simple guide to the Sort, Assess, Lifesaving Interventions, Treat/Transport [SALT] triage method. Sebastian et al. (2025) also identified a need for additional education for nursing students. Our project aimed to build on theirs by creating sustainable, reusable training resources that could easily be integrated into the nursing curriculum. 

Setyawati et al. (2025) demonstrated that providing disaster triage training for nursesdramatically increased their knowledge, skills, and resilience in responding to disaster scenarios. Additionally, Abraham et al. (2023) identified a lack of information and training as priority concerns preventing potential responders from providing first aid in case of disaster. Educational training and resources enhance viewers’ knowledge and subsequently increase their confidence to respond appropriately in disaster situations. To achieve our goal of increasing nursing students’ knowledge, skills, and confidence to volunteer in case of disaster, we created three videos. Our videos can be played by nursing faculty when the badge buddy triage cards developed by Sebastian et al. are distributed. The first video is an introduction to SALT, an evidence-based method for triaging multiple patients in a mass casualty incident (Mehralian et al., 2023). With SALT, injured patients are assigned to a category based on the severity of their injuries so that treatment can be given quickly and efficiently. Our video explains when, why, and how SALT would be used.

The second video builds on the first by reviewing the four levels of injury used in SALT triage. Injury levels are green for minimal injury, yellow for delayed care, red for immediate care, and black for deceased patients. The video walks viewers through scenarios where an injured person is brought to triage and assigned a category so that nursing students can see how SALT might be applied in a real disaster situation.

Our third video introduces students to the details of helping with medical triage at the specified university. It covers how to check in with a Building Emergency Coordinator after evacuation and before reporting to triage. It shows students where and how to check in at the triage area, and it covers the location of emergency medical supplies in case students are asked to help retrieve them.

Hung et. Al (2025) showed that training increased students’ disaster knowledge and perceived ability to respond in case of a disaster. Covering the SALT color coding system, demonstrating and explaining mock triage situations, and expounding on the university’s disaster plans will prepare student volunteers to be part of a more organized, unified response on campus. With analysis of potential risks, disaster preparation plans, and increasing readiness, we aim to decrease the unpredictability that disasters may bring.

Outcomes

We identified two outcomes for this project: increase nursing student confidence to respond in case of disaster and increase community resources available at the university in case of disaster. We evaluated our success by showing the videos to a class of 30, first quarter nursing students. In a pre-intervention survey, we asked students to rate their knowledge of the university’s emergency response plan, their knowledge of the information on the badge buddy cards created by Sebastian et al. (2025), and their confidence to volunteer in the event of a disaster. After showing the videos, we administered the same questions in a post-survey. Each of the questions showed a dramatic increase in knowledge and confidence. Before watching the videos, only 10% of students rated themselves very likely to volunteer to assist with medical care in a disaster, while 34% rated themselves somewhat likely to volunteer. After watching our videos, 66% of students rated themselves very likely to volunteer, and 31% rated themselves somewhat likely to volunteer. Increasing the likelihood that nursing students will volunteer to assist with medical response increases community resources by bolstering the number of volunteers available in situations where external responders cannot easily reach campus.

Conclusion

This project addressed the need for sustainable educational resources to support nursing student volunteering on campus in case of disaster. Our evaluation showed that our tools increased student knowledge of how to participate in campus disaster response, their confidence in volunteering in case of a disaster, and their self-reported likeliness to volunteer. The videos have been shared with nursing faculty so that they can be integrated into the program in the future.

One notable opportunity going forward is to increase the accessibility of emergency medical supplies. The current location of supplies is accessible to only a few staff members. During evening and weekend hours, a single security officer on campus has the necessary key. If a disaster occurs during these hours, even well-trained and confident nursing student volunteers will be limited in their ability to provide emergency medical aid due to constraints in accessing supplies. There is an opportunity for additional education for nursing students and faculty in the form of a triage simulation day or other hands-on training. The campus could also benefit from disaster preparedness education for all students and faculty. There are many avenues to continue strengthening disaster preparedness and emergency response at this private university.

References

Abraham, J., Alva, J., & Vinish, V. (2023). Assessment of knowledge, readiness, and barriers hindering the performance of first aid measures in emergency situations among non- healthcare professionals of selected organizations of Udupi Taluk. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 12, 359. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_1860_22

Hung, M. S. Y., Lam, S. K. K., Chow, M. C. M., Ng, W. W. M., & Pau, O. K. (2021). The effectiveness of disaster education for undergraduate nursing students’ knowledge,willingness, and perceived ability: An evaluation study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 10545.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910545

Mehralian, G., Pazokian, M., Akbari Shahrestanaki, Y., Salari, A., Saberinia, A., & Soltani, S. (2023). Development and validation of SALT Triage method to facilitate the identification and classification of patients in mass casualty incidents. Journal of Injury& Violence Research, 15(2), 137–146. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37452627/

Seattle Office of Emergency Management. (2023). Seattle Hazard Explorer. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/2acb05d732134331bc05214740076373/page/Hazard-Explorer?views=Earthquakes%2CGround-Shaking

Seattle Office of Emergency Management. (2019). Seattle Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Analysis. https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Emergency/PlansOEM/SHIVA/SHIVAv7.0.1.pdf7

Sebastian, N., Brown, J. Hamadou, L., Kuang, L., Padilla, J., Romero, M. & Trummert, K. (2025). Disaster management and triage. Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects, 56. https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/shs_nlce/56

Setyawati, A. D., Lu, Y. Y., Wu, S. V., & Liang, S. Y. (2025). Effects of disaster triage training program on knowledge, skills, and resilience among nurses: A randomized controlled trial. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 19, e298.https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2025.10233

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