Tailoring curricula to fit health professionals needs in a disaster: a proposal for Brazilian nurses.

Introduction Education and training are the cornerstones of disaster preparedness and best curricula and training programs are competency-based. Objective This paper presents a proposal to be applied in nursing curricula in Brazil, based on the National Curriculum Guidelines and the recommendations for integrating skills and competencies into undergraduate curricula proposed by the World Health Organization. Results Comparison of competencies sets was conducted to indicate the specific competencies to be included as essential for Brazilian nurses. Levels of proficiency were indicated for the establishment of learning objectives and learning experiences and evaluation tools recommended from the literature. Conclusions The competencies provided are the beginning of the discussion that will have to take place in every nursing school, if all Brazilian nurses are to graduate ready to participate should a disaster occur.