Only authorized personnel should provide information to the media in any health care institution in a disaster. Since student nurses are not familiar with all hospital staff, students should follow the directions of their faculty if present, otherwise, authorized health care personnel i.e. nursing supervisors, etc. For a variety of reasons, unqualified persons are sometimes drawn to disaster situations and there have been cases where lay impostors directed patient care. All staff and students have personal family needs. Unfortunately in a disaster, the welfare of individuals may not be known by loved ones for a period of time.
Schools have a deep and abiding interest in and concern for their students.
The school retains communication responsibilities for student populations. Greater Kansas City Healthcare Council Terminology Alert announcements to hospitals from the HEAR system. A patients, code blue patients, transported to the morgue. The hospital will then need to classify victims according to the accepted priority of care rating system. Volume of victims vary dependent on the nature of the disaster.