Office of Nursing
• Georgia Nurse Alert System (GNAS)
Introduction
The Georgia Nurse Alert System (GNAS) was the first system of its kind in the country. It is a network of volunteer registered professional nurses (RNs) who are ready to serve as volunteers for the Georgia Department of Public Health (DCH) disaster/emergency response team. The purpose of the GNAS is to provide a pool of currently licensed RNs who have the necessary nursing skills to serve as volunteers during times of disaster/emergency in Georgia. The goal is to assure adequate and appropriate nurse staffing for the disaster relief efforts, which may be needed throughout Georgia. This includes staffing for the congregate (general population) shelters, as well as the special needs shelters (for those who are not well enough to be cared for in the congregate shelters but who do not need to go to a hospital).
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Background
Under the Georgia Emergency Operations Plan, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DCH) is mandated as the agency responsible for assuring that Emergency Support Function (ESF) 6 (Mass Care) and ESF 8 (Health and Medical) are carried out during times of disaster and emergency. The capacity of DHR to fulfill these functions includes the need to assure that nursing services are provided on a 24/7 basis for persons who have been impacted by the disaster. This includes nursing services for the congregate shelters, special needs shelters and other settings where emergency care may be provided. Congregate shelters are for the general population, who may have only minor health problems requiring limited or no supervision. Special needs population shelters/sites are for those persons who need more assistance or supervision with health problems, but do not require hospitalization. Other settings where nursing services could be provided as part of an emergency response include assessment triage sites, decontamination sites and mass immunization sites.
During Tropical Storm Alberto in 1994 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999, DHR needed to identify and mobilize nurses to help staff the special needs shelters in Albany, Savannah and Macon. For Tropical Storm Alberto, DHR made arrangements through the federal channels for the Veterans Administration to send nurses to the Albany area to provide the necessary nursing services at a specific cost to DHR. For H. Floyd, the Division of Public Health, Nursing Section recruited by phone individual nurses in the community who had the necessary skills and were available to provide the necessary care of the special needs populations both in Savannah and Macon. Fortunately, enough nurses were recruited and transported to both sites for the ten day-period of time that the shelters were opened. At the time of H. Floyd, the non-DHR nurses who were recruited were working in acute care, coronary care, or emergency room settings. Some of the nurses recruited had worked as nurses in developing countries.
Based on the experience with the above two disasters and the emergency preparedness plans for responding to future events involving biological and/or chemical agents, the need for DHR to have an efficient system for recruiting, training, mobilizing and deploying a cohort of nurses who had the necessary skills to assist with the health care needs of affected persons during times of disaster and emergency was apparent. DHR must have direct access to the online registry system of volunteers on a 24-hour, 7-day basis. DHR must also be able to efficiently mobilize hundreds of nurses in the system to assist with the disaster response activities at any location within the state.
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Current Status
GNAS has become a part of the state-wide web-based registry of volunteer health professionals. The program is structured such that any license administered by the Secretary of State, or the State Board of Medical Examiners can be verified by the computer program. Volunteers can be grouped and recalled according to location, specialty, etc.
The Protocol for Activation of Nursing Resources in Disasters and Emergencies outlines the process for deployment of both public health nurses and GNAS volunteer nurses during times of disaster or emergency. DHR will contact the volunteers by email and/or phone when the staffing needs for the disaster/emergency exceed the capacity of public health to provide the necessary staffing.
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Future Plan
Working in conjunction with the Volunteer Coordinator:
- Assist with marketing GNAS to nursing educators and nursing students, home health staff, and other target groups.
- Work with contractor to learn added features (programmed site scheduling of shifts, and tracking of volunteers) as they are uploaded.
- Write protocol for how to set up and staff a call station for alert and deployment medical resources.
- Work with the Office of Training and Workforce Development to implement orientation and training for the volunteers.
- Update GNAS information as needed. Maintain a link to SERVGA on GDPH Nursing website with the assistance of the web-master.
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For More Information
For registration as a GNAS volunteer: http://www.servga.org
For more information about how GNAS operates:
Cynthia Grant: cdgrant@dhr.state.ga.us
phone: 404-463-0798
fax: 404-463-0377
website: http://health.state.ga.us/programs/nursing/
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