Human Caring at Different Stages After Disasters

Disasters, including natural disasters and man-made ones, occur rather frequently in recent years. Disasters bring destruction to the resources and expectations of local residents and cause varying degrees of physical and mental damage to the victims, some of whom suffered persistent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Human caring is the essence and core of nursing. Giving consideration to the needs and wishes of patients, the nursing staff respect the personal values of patients, give patients sincere attention and care, satisfy the reasonable needs of patients, protect the dignity of patients, stimulate patients' positive inner drive, alleviate their physical and mental pain, and facilitate the smooth recovery of patients. However, very few studies have been done to look into the human caring at various stages after a disaster hit and there is little relevant guidance available. Herein, we examined the characteristics and needs of victims of disasters in the post-disaster response stage and recovery stage and elaborated on specific and feasible measures for the implementation of human caring after disasters, including prehospital emergency care, which includes on-the-site emergency care and transportation of patients, in-hospital treatment, which includes an environment of human caring and human caring for patients and their families, especially for the special-needs populations, and post-hospital recovery stage, which includes post-hospital continuing and community-based human caring. We intend to provide guidance and reference for the practice of human caring when major disasters occur.