The 5 roles of nurses in crises - insights from the frontlines of a fragile world

The session, Strengthening nurses’ managerial roles for resilient health systems in conflict and crisis settings, came at a harrowing time. Howard Catton, Chief Executive Officer at ICN, paid tribute to colleagues affected by the August 2026 floods in Nepal and Tibet in his welcome address: 

“We’ve all been shocked and moved by the scale of the disaster and the level of destruction,” he said. “We must recognize the profound mental health impact on nurses who are responding while grieving their own losses and, in some cases, trying to rescue friends and colleagues. ICN has remained in close contact with the Nepal Nursing Association and is offering support through #NursesforPeace. The Association is working with partners to help coordinate the relief effort and ensure that nursing expertise contributes effectively to the response.” 

From responding to crises as they hit, to building resilience before they happen, the leadership role of nurses is often overlooked – but it is critical, complex and multidimensional. 

Systems-level leadership 

The webinar was delivered under the leadership of the GNLI Alumni Council, with expertise from Dr Olubunmi Lawal-Aiyedun, a pediatric nurse and global health leader, and Professor Hamdia Ahmed, Dean of the Hawler Medical University in Iraq. It explored 5 key roles that nurses play amid crises and conflicts: as clinicians, educators, managers, researchers and policy influencers. 

Elaborating on these roles, Professor Ahmed said: “As a researcher, nurses have a role to collect and share data on violence against healthcare, contribute to evidence on burdens of providing care in conflict, and also have another role, which is policy influencer and executive, which advocates for the protection of health workers, speaks out against violence and lobbies government for nonviolent solutions.” 

Guest speaker Alison Hutton, Professor of Nursing at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Midwifery and Health Development at the University of Technology, addressed the role of Advanced Practice nursing: “Advanced Practice extends beyond direct clinical care into managerial and leadership responsibilities, and it requires oversight of the entire response.” In a nutshell: “What we're really talking about here is systems-level leadership.” 

This means that nursing leadership must be present at every stage of disaster management. Nurses are central to the immediate response, but the knowledge and experience they gain on the frontline are also vital to prevention, recovery, rebuilding, and creating more resilient health systems.  

From the bedside to the policy table 

Drawing on his experience in the EMRO region, Dr Ahmed Hawsawi, Chief Nurse Officer at Saudi German Hospitals and GNLI alum, explored the role nurses play in providing early warning signals to decision-makers. 
 
“If we see the challenges the community are facing, whether in terms of climate change impact, whether in terms of their food or other nutritional issues - that's a kind of alert, of what is actually coming and what we can do differently... We need to move from bedside intelligence to the policy table,” he said.  
 
Nurses are on the frontline of a health emergency in Sudan, where 33.7 million people need humanitarian assistance, nearly 40% of hospitals in areas affected by conflict are out of service, and 94 health and medical personnel have reportedly been killed – including 12 nurses. 

President of the Sudanese Nurses Organization, Mr Mowafag Hassan, shared analysis which identified four major barriers for his members: safety and security risks; resource scarcity; displacement and unemployment; and ethical dilemmas and weak financial support. He argued for the importance of continued education, integrating awareness of trauma. 
 
Finally, Dr Amal Naji Alqahtani, Advisor to the CEO for Nursing Affairs at Jeddah First Health Cluster, moved the conversation to recovery.  

“Rebuilding should not simply create the system that existed before the crisis. We need to build a strong system that is responsive and more resilient,” she said. Protecting, educating and empowering nurses is key to building resilience:  
 
“We need to educate, retain, and deploy nurses and prepare them to lead the recovery process, because ultimately protecting nursing education today means protecting the health system of tomorrow.” 

Looking to this future, ICN’s GNLI is carrying out projects to support nurses in crisis settings, including a Regional Review of EMRO Occupational Health Legislation and Gaps Affecting Nurses' Resilience, and a NURSE PULSE Dashboard to gauge wellbeing and resilience in EMRO.  
 
At a time when conflicts and crises are intensifying, it is vital to protect and empower nurses as they play leadership roles at every stage of disaster management.