A tornado touched down in a large community, and the hospital is anticipating many casualties will be sent to the facility within the next few hours. The nurse should first

  • activate the emergency disaster response plan.
  • obtain any extra supplies from the supply closet.
  • prepare a triage staging area.
  • call in extra staff, even if they are not scheduled to work.
Number 1 is correct.
The nurse’s first action should be to activate the emergency disaster response plan. The other actions are important, but should take place after the emergency disaster plan is officially activated and underway.