The Effect of the Implementation of the National Program for Hospital Preparedness on the Readiness of Nurses Under Simulated Conditions of Incidents and Disasters

Abstract

Background: Nurses are the largest group of health care providers to the injured people and\rpromoting their preparedness is among the basic principles of health management in incidents\rand disasters. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the implementation of\rthe national program for hospital preparedness on the readiness of nurses under simulated\rconditions of incidents and disasters.\rMaterials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design was\rconducted on the head nurses of Madaen Hospital in Tehran who were selected by total\rcount sampling method. To collect data, demographic and disaster preparedness and response\rquestionnaires were used, which consisted of three parts: knowledge, attitude, and performance.\rThe intervention program was conducted in the form of a 2-day workshop of disaster\rmanagement along with toptable exercise. Then preparedness of nurses were measured before\rand one month after the intervention. Data analysis was done with SPSS 18 and descriptive and\rinferential statistical tests were performed. Significant level was considered at less than 0.05.\rResults: There were no significant differences between the two groups of intervention and control\rwith regard to the average scores of knowledge (P = 0.55), attitude (P = 0.633), and performance (P\r= 0.836) before the intervention. After the intervention, the average scores of knowledge (P = 0.007),\rattitude (P = 0.0001), and performance (P = 0.0001) in the intervention group were significantly\rhigher than those of the control group. The results also showed that after the intervention, the\raverage test scores of knowledge (P = 0.009), attitude (P = 0.0001), and performance (P = 0.0001)\rin the intervention group increased significantly compared to their pretest scores, while the average\rscores of knowledge (P = 0.170), attitude (P = 0.200), and performance (P = 0.341) for the pretest\rand posttest of the control group did not differ significantly.\rConclusion: The results of this study showed that education of national hospital preparedness\rprogram under simulated conditions of incidents and disasters increased knowledge, attitude,\rand performance (preparation) of nurses in response to the incidents and disasters.