Level of Disaster Preparedness among Emergency Nurses in Aseer Region, KSA
Author(s): Mousa ibrahim Ali Asiri*, Suheir AM Sayed, Mohammed Almalki, Mysara Alfaki and Ahmed Nasser Ahmed Assiri
Abstract
Background: Nowadays, the possibility of disaster that occurs around the world increased, and the need to adapted people and organizations to be ready is a vital part of disaster management. As a part of the healthcare organization, the preparedness of nursing staff for disaster leads to an increased level of awareness of the organization. Furthermore, nursing staff in hospitals dealing with different situations daily in the emergency department but all worlds there is no daily disaster that occurs, so preparedness if the disaster is an integral part of disaster management. Aim: To evaluate the level of disaster preparedness among emergency nurses in the Aseer region. Methods: Descriptive facility-based study. Data were collected by standardized, close-ended Questionnaire through direct interview and was analyzed by computer (SPSS program), Data was presented in the form of simple frequency, tables, and graphs. Statistical significance analysis will be performed Results: The ages of the participants ranged from 20 to 50 Years old, 56% of them are females. A two-tailed samples t-test was used to compare the mean difference in Disaster knowledge between standard Disaster knowledge=3 and Disaster knowledge. The Type I error rate was set at alpha=0.05. The results suggest that the average Disaster knowledge is less than for Disaster knowledge standard, t(150)=-6.429, p=0.000. There is a significant difference between gender in variable familiar with Emergency Preparedness Terms & Activities p.value=0.019 Conclusion: Level of the disaster preparedness among nurses in Aseer region was less than the standard. Recommendation: giving all emergency nurses courses on how to prepare and deal with disasters. These courses are continuous, and their attendance is required before working in the emergency department and adds a course on how to deal with emergencies and disasters in all health college curriculums.