Abstract
Japan has experienced numerous natural disasters, and “disaster nursing” has been established in the field of nursing education. However, it has not yet been established in veterinary nursing education implemented to train veterinary nurses. With the aim of examining the necessity of “disaster veterinary nursing” from multiple perspectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted involving people who raise pet animals across Japan (breeders), participants in disaster prevention events who have no pet animals (non-breeders), and participants in disaster veterinary nursing programs for veterinary nurses. Breeders’ awareness of disasters was low and appropriate preventive measures were not implemented. The results also suggest that it is an urgent task to raise public awareness of evacuation with pet animals / evacuation accompanied by pet animals to maintain the psychological health of evacuees in the event of disasters. Although non-breeders had positive views of infection / allergy in pet animals, few expressed an understanding of evacuation with pet animals / evacuation accompanied by pet animals because of a sense of anxiety. Therefore, breeders need to be educated to acquire accurate knowledge including appropriate breeding methods, and veterinary nurses are expected to fulfill the role of increasing public awareness of disaster measures, suggested by the results of the present survey. It is important to implement education on disaster veterinary nursing for both educational institutions and members of society.
