The Nursing Emergency Preparedness Education Coalition (NEPEC) is coordinated by Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. It was founded in response to recognition of the need for nurses to be more adequately prepared to respond to mass casualty events.
The first meeting was called by Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch, Dean Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in March, 2001. That first meeting was attended by nursing top leaders from academics, government, the military and specialty organizations. The membership has grown from those initial beginnings to a consortium representing more than 80 organizational members and affiliates from the United States and Europe.
The purpose of the Nursing Emergency Preparedness Education Coalition (NEPEC) is to facilitate the systematic development of policies related to mass casualty events as they influence the public health infrastructure and impact on nursing practice, education, research and regulation.
The NEPEC is currently focused in several areas: 1) increasing awareness of all nurses about mass casualty events; 2) leadership to the nursing profession for the development of knowledge and expertise related to mass casualty education; 3) dissemination of competencies for nurses at academic and continuing education levels; 4) establishment of a clearinghouse of information and web links for professional development of nurses; and 5) input into policy development related to nursing practice, education and research at the governmental and institutional levels.
Since the NEPEC is organizationally based, it builds on the strength of all its members and their respective constituencies. These constituencies include many nurses possessing extensive expertise in mass casualties, mass casualty education and weapons of mass destruction. These nurses and the subject matter experts participate in the identification and presentation of content and the development of related materials used in interdisciplinary training initiatives. As part of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the NEPEC also draws from the significant research, clinical practice and teaching expertise of nationally and internationally recognized faculty in a variety of related disciplines.
|
|
Conference 2003 Attendees [photo]
Conference 2004 [Proceedings]
Conference 2005 [Proceedings]
|
