Nurses' Preparedness for Disasters in a Crisis-stricken Country: A case study in Afghanistan in 2020

Introduction: Nurses play an important role in the hospital's affective response to accidents and disasters.  Assessing nurses' preparedness is the starting point for planning to improve and increase nurses' preparedness for disasters.  Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the preparedness of nurses of the 650-bed district hospital in Herat, Afghanistan in the face of disasters in 2020. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study and the entire study population including nurses working in a 650-bed district hospital in Herat province were included in the study.  The data collection tool was a standard questionnaire to determine the level of preparedness of nurses against accidents and disasters, which was localized.  This questionnaire included three areas of knowledge, attitude, and performance.  The maximum score in each of the domains was 100.  To analyze the data, descriptive indicators such as mean, median, standard deviation, and quartiles as well as analytical methods such as independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney and Friedman nonparametric tests, and Spearman correlation coefficient test was used. Results: The mean scores obtained by the participants in each of the areas of knowledge, attitude, and performance (behavior) were 30±12, 81±12, and 40±7, respectively.  The findings of the study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between knowledge score and the duration of disaster education and management history.  Also, a statistically significant relationship was observed between performance score and age, gender, marital status, education level, work experience, management history, duration of training received on disasters, and history of previous disaster exposure. Conclusion: Considering that the preparedness of nurses participating in this study was lower than average in two of the three areas, it can be concluded that the level of preparedness of nurses for disasters is low and undesirable and requires  measures such as holding regular theoretical and practical training courses to increase it.