Development of a Water-Related Disaster Decision Model for Nurses in Thailand
Ann Jirapongsuwan PhD*, Andrew J. Englande PhD, PE**, Peter J. Fos PhD***
Affiliation : * Department of Public Health Nursing, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand ** Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, Louisiana, USA *** University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Background : Disasters, be they natural or manmade, are catastrophic events that confront nursing managers with the
challenge of acting to reduce the impact of such events upon society as a whole.
Objective : Provide nursing management personnel with a guide organized in such a fashion as to facilitate the decision
making process in water related disasters. To develop a model to guide the decision-making process regarding water-related
disaster management.
Material and Method: The combination of the two-round of modified Delphi method and The Simple Multi-attribute Rating
Technique (SMART) was used to develop a decision tool. Thirty-four experts, including nurses, physicians and manager from
three hospitals situated in previous disaster zones participated in this project. Delphi consensus was reached when the mean
score of agreement was above 4.0 and standard deviation was below 1.0. Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance and the
Kruskal Wallis H-test were performed to determine the degree of agreement and association of criteria rankings.
Results : The 36 variables were constructed with seven alternatives: policy, communications, materials, human resource
management, operation effectiveness, health and stakeholder participation. An agreement in attribute ranking among the
experts was found. The trade-off scores of model variables were presented to identify feasible arrays of disaster planning
needs.
Conclusion : The authors proposed a practical method to develop a decision model based on the input of key individuals in
disaster management. The model can be used to guide the decision making for nurse managers resulting in the best practice
for water-related disaster management.
Keywords : Nursing management, Decision model, Water-related disaster management, Delphi technique, Simple multi- attribute rating technique
