Assessing the readiness of military nurses in the field of incident command system during the Covid-19 pandemic  

Introduction: Military nurses are at the frontline of responding to disasters. Incident command system is a managerial structure which is used to control and Disaster risk reduction. Military nurses preparedness in the ICS area during Covid-19 pandemic could affect their performance in the response phase. Aim: the aim of this study was to evaluate nurse’s readiness in selected military hospitals in the field of accident command system to manage Covid-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 308 military nurses were selected by quota random sampling. The data collection tool was a nurses' readiness assessment questionnaire in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS software version 23.The statistical significance level was considered P <0.05. Results: Most participant were male and in the age range of 20-30 years (57.5% and 50.3%, respectively). The majority of participants had a bachelor's degree (94.8%). The mean score of total participants was 10.62 ± 24.95 which demonstrate low level of preparedness among study population. Accident command system readiness score were significantly different between male and female nurses. The readiness score of male and female nurses were 26.70 ±10.05 and 22.59± 10.95 ± 10.05, respectively. T-test with P = 0.001 showed a statistically significant difference. ANOVA test showed a significant difference between nurses preparedness in different hospitals. No relationship was found between readiness and other demographic characteristics. Discussion and Conclusion: Military hospitals nurses did not have sufficient preparation in the field of incident command system therefore it is better to apply appropriate measures such as designing disaster specific systems and training. Nurse’s preparedness is necessary for a flexible responsive structure against crisis like Covid-19 and because accident command system will increase their readiness, raising their preparedness should be one of the priorities of military hospitals.