Exploration of the Knowledge and Attitude of Military Nurses in Disaster Management

Abstract

Introduction: Disaster events require the development of disaster management strategies. Nurses play a key role in disaster management. Aim: To investigate the knowledge and attitudes of military nurses about disaster management. Method: On a voluntary basis, 319 military nurses, from all branches of the forces, completed an anonymous, self-administered, structured questionnaire, the “questionnaire of assessing Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) on disaster management”. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS), v. 21.0. Results: The response rate was 72%. Of the respondents 23.8% worked in intensive care units (ICU) and 49.2% belonged to the army. Knowledge adequacy was moderate, with an average knowledge score of 68 on a scale of 0–100; 64.9% stated that they had been informed about disaster management, their most important sources of information being: the workplace (17.6%), mass media (15%) and basic nursing education (12.2%), and 13.8% had participated in disaster management activities in their workplace. The majority of participants considered courses (81.2%), drills (78.7%) and protocols of disaster management (76.5%) to be the most useful exercises in disaster management preparedness. The attitude of the participating nurses was positive overall, with 67% stating willingness to participate voluntarily in any disaster situation, and 85% to be included in risk assessment. Increase in years of experience was associated with a higher knowledge score (p<0.001). Conclusions: Better preparation of military nurses for disaster management requires well planned and organized training (theoretical and practical), both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including continuing education within their hospitals.