Educational needs of disaster management committee members in Iranian public hospitals covered by medical universities for passive defense

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Managers and experts training is one of the areas of creation and development infrastructure of passive defense in health system organizations including hospitals. This study was conducted to assess the educational needs of disaster management committee members in Iranian public hospitals for passive defense. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The study environment population was hospitals covered by medical universities  that were randomly selected based territorial preparation  and study population was disaster management committee members  that were selected as a census. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire including two parts of individual variables, and 15 closed-ended questions for passive defense. The data were analyzed by SPSS 23 software. FINDINGS: Of the 410 members of the hospital crisis and disaster management committee who were studied, the need for education in all subjects was above average. The mean of total educational needs was 3.95±0.79. The highest level of need (4.17±0.9) for non-structural safety assessment and the lowest level of need (3.70±1.2)  for soft defense. Managers and experts in Lorestan University of Medical Sciences declared the highest need (4.25±0.6) and in Esfarain Medical School the lowest need (3.34±1.2). There was a significant relationship between total educational needs and gender, field of study, unit of work and occupation (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that most of managers and experts need to be trained on passive defense issues. Therefore, it is suggested that educational interventions be designed and implemented.