COVID-19: What Should We Do in Future Crises? The Leadership Role and Scope of Nurses in a Health Disaster: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Aim:The present study surveys the available evidence regarding the role and scope of nursing leadership in disaster and emergencies.Materials and Methods:This scoping review was carried out between 2010 and 2020 through a series of databases including Embase, Scopus, CINHAL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, ProQuest, and Google Scholar with keywords of “leadership,” “nursing,” “competency,” “disaster,” and “emergency”.Results:Seven articles met the inclusion criteria of the scoping review. Three main research questions were addressed, relating to the role of nursing leadership in times of disaster, the skills required of a nursing leader, and the strategies recommended for promoting nursing leadership during a disaster or pandemic.Conclusion:This study shows that nurses are a vital part of the healthcare system in times of disaster and that nursing leaders provide valuable services for maintaining individual and community health. Given that there is no agreement in the existing research as to which competencies are required of nursing leaders in times of disaster, more researches must be developed to enhance the effectiveness of nursing leaders in future disasters and pandemics.

Keywords

• leadership
• disaster
• pandemic
• health system
• nurse