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

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