ONF hosts luncheon and educational session on crucial conversations: bridging the generation gap to create healthy work environments.

The Oklahoma Nurses Foundation is the arm of the ONA that supports research and scholarly projects with small grants. The vision of the ONF is consistent with the vision of the American Nurses Foundation (ANF) to support the continued growth and development of nursing and serve to advance the work of the nursing profession.

Each year at convention, ONF sponsors a luncheon to raise funds to support the work of the foundation. This year ONF will host a luncheon and educational session on Disasters, Pandemic Influenza and Altered Standards of Care by Loren Stein, RNC, MSN, the ONA Project Director for the Medical Reserve Corps.

Loren Stein will provide an informative update on pandemic influenza predictions and preparedness planning.

Disasters can be the result of natural causes, terrorism, accidents or emerging diseases. When disasters result in many casualties it is referred to as a mass casualty event. One example of a mass casualty event is a severe pandemic influenza. Pandemic influenza would result in a "developing impact" event characterized by a gradual increase in people affected rising to disastrous numbers of affected individuals. The predicted numbers of affected individuals requiring hospitalization, ICU beds and mechanical ventilation would be overwhelming for our healthcare system. Under these circumstances it may become necessary to allocate medical resources in a manner that is different from usual circumstances. Communities, state and federal organizations are developing disaster preparedness plans for pandemic influenza, including development of a plan for allocating scarce medical resources. Adjustments in health and medical care standards to ensure that the care provided in response to a mass casualty event saves as many lives as possible are termed altered standards of care. The Oklahoma Nurses Association has been involved in the collaborative process of determining altered standards of care during a disaster for the state of Oklahoma. The initial focus has been on the development of a triage protocol for critical care.

Objectives

Compare the types of disasters and contrast an immediate impact mass casualty event with a developing impact mass casualty event.

Describe the potential impact of a pandemic influenza in Oklahoma.

Examine the concepts related to developing standards for providing mass medical care with scarce resources during a mass casualty event.

Discuss the process of collaboration on determining potential guidelines for establishing altered standards of care in the event of a mass casualty event.

To attend the Oklahoma Nurses Foundation Luncheon for a more in depth look at Bridging the Generation Gap to Create Healthy Work Environments, sign up on the registration form available in this issue of the Oklahoma Nurse or register online at the ONA website, www.oknurses.com. Tickets are available to registered nurses for $30 each and to students for $20 each. Ticket may not be purchased onsite.

The ONF Luncheon will be held during the 2006 ONA Convention on Thursday, October 11th, from 11:30 until 1:00 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.