The volunteer potential of inactive nurses for disaster preparedness.
OBJECTIVE
Inactive nurses' interest in volunteering for emergency preparedness was examined.


METHODS
A mail survey was sent to the entire Vermont Board of Nursing list of in-state inactive and lapsed registered nurses (n = 3,682). A high rate of undeliverable surveys (60%) was found and 611 surveys were returned for a 20% response rate.


RESULTS
Twenty-seven percent of the respondents were interested in volunteering. Those interested in participating in volunteer work as part of a national homeland security effort were significantly more likely to (a) be younger in age (p < 0.0001); (b) identify themselves as "being a nurse" (p = 0.001); (c) be employed versus retired (p = 0.002); and (d) be currently volunteers (p = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Because 33% of the nation's nurses are over age 50, inactive nurses offer a potentially large pool of volunteers for emergency preparedness training and response in the years to come.
Fothergill
Alice
A
Department of Sociology, 31 South Prospect Street, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0176, USA. alice.fothergill@uvm.edu
Palumbo
Mary Val
MV
Rambur
Betty
B
Reinier
Kyndaron
K
McIntosh
Barbara
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection; D004189:Disaster Planning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D014707:Vermont; D014838:Volunteers