IMPORTANCIA DE LA ENFERMERÍA EN LA PREVENCIÓN Y VIGILANCIA EPIDEMIOLÓGICA EN SITUACIONES DE EMERGENCIAS O DESASTRES

Abstract

Preparedness for disasters and health emergencies must anticipate, respond to and recover from the impact of risky, probable, imminent or current conditions. The Integrated Epidemiological Surveillance System of Ecuador and the Subsystem: SIVE ALERT, must permanently coordinate in the country, the design and implementation of contingency plans, provision of resources, risk awareness, dissemination of preventive and protection behaviors before the development of a large-scale event, with training in the origin, transmission and control of infections that frequently occur in emergencies and disasters. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of nursing professionals in the prevention, control and epidemiological surveillance of infections before, during and after emergency situations or disasters, from a holistic and comprehensive vision. The scientific method was used at a theoretical and empirical level, information sources and databases such as PubMed, Medline, SciELO, Scopus, and Latindex were consulted; The guide for the implementation of epidemiological surveillance in emergencies, the minimum requirements for infection prevention and control programs, specialized journals and articles related to the role of nursing personnel in disasters were analyzed. It was concluded the need to make this action visible, from the study programs, at undergraduate and graduate level, to increase the prevention of highly destructive communicable diseases, especially from the field of nursing, at each planned stage and in full coordination with the entire health team.