Feature articleEarthquakes in El Salvador: a descriptive study of health concerns in a rural community and the clinical implications, part i
Section snippets
Nursing students without borders
Beginning in August 2000, Nursing Students Without Borders (NSWB) visited the town of San Sebastian with the mission of “promoting health awareness, building networks to access health care resources and distributing material donations to developing world communities, while expanding the perspective of the nursing student.”2 NSWB is a student-run organization at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. Since August 2001, NSWB has made four additional trips to San Sebastian. The goals of
Design
A convenience sample of 100 households representing 594 family members was obtained from the Public Health Clinic and Red Cross Clinic of San Sebastian.
Sample
Residents of rural farming areas made up 59% of interviewees; whereas, 41% of participants were urban (i.e., town residents of San Sebastian) (Table 1). The only inclusion criteria for the study were 18 years of age or older when interviewed, living in the town of San Sebastian or the surrounding area, and being affected by the January and
Demographics
Interviews were conducted on 100 households; the overall response rate was 99%. The initial demographic analysis evaluated 594 individual family members on the basis of relation to the respondent, age, education, occupation, and a health history. This demographic data pertained to each individual member of the household. Of the entire study sample, the mean age was 27.4 years (SD = 22.7 years) (see Table 1). An equal number of male and female subjects participated in the study. Students (158
Summary
This study evaluated 594 individual family members in 100 households. The primary preexisting health concerns were hypertension, renal disease, heart disease, tobacco use and alcohol use. New injuries occurred in 38% of the households with 79% had a member that experienced an exacerbation of a chronic disease. Of the households surveyed, 48% needed to use healthcare resources after the earthquakes with 85% reporting the receipt of some form of assistance. Over 52% of homes were uninhabitable.
Joanna C. Woersching, RN, BSN, is nurse clinician I at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
References (9)
- et al.
Earthquakes in El Salvador
Epidemiol Bull
(2001) - Nursing Students Without Borders. About Nursing Students Without Borders. Available at...
- Con Mucho hambre y sin ayuda. El Diario de Hoy 2001;Jan...
El Salvador fears epidemic: earthquake death continues to rise. Available at http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/01/16/quake.03/
(2001)
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Joanna C. Woersching, RN, BSN, is nurse clinician I at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
Audrey E. Snyder, MSN, RN, CEN, ACNP-CS, is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing and a nurse practitioner in emergency medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA