Health in Emergencies and Disasters Quarterly
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Autumn 2016

Awareness of nurses’ experiences is helpful to identify current problems in providing services during disasters. In this regard, better planning and preparation may reduce the problems of this large group of health care providers. This study aimed to investigate the experiences of female nurses in providing services during disasters.
This is a qualitative study with content analysis approach. The participants comprised 15 nurses with experience in providing healthcare services during disasters. Samples were recruited by purposive sampling method and sampling was continued until data saturation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, then analyzed by manifest content analysis.
Based on experiences and perceptions of nurses, three main categories found out of analyses of the obtained data were as follows: “the importance of paying attention to the specific needs of female nurses,” “places for female nurses during disastrous period,” and “the importance of the presence of female nurses in providing services.”
Many factors affect the services delivered by female nurses. The results of this study showed that the specific needs of female nurses, who are the main body of Iranian nurses, could maximize their performance and minimize their psychological and emotional damages.

Nurses, as the largest group in providing relief during disasters with their specialized skills, should be sufficiently prepared to provide the highest level of health care. By compiling predisaster preparedness programs, the provided healthcare would be promoted and number of casualties and incoordination in allocated tasks be reduced. This study was conducted to evaluate nurses’ preparedness in response to disasters in South Khorasan Province, Iran.
In this correlational descriptive study, working nurses in provincial hospitals were chosen by systematic random sampling. The study data were collected with a 3-part questionnaire: demographic information, items assessing the capabilities in disaster (clinical competency, survival skills, operational competency), and items regarding their viewpoints (personal and psychological readiness, team integration, and administrative support). The questionnaire was rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Total score in each field is divided by the number of questions, in which 5 is the highest, and 1 the lowest. All data were analyzed by SPSS16. The significant level was set at P≤0.05.
Out of 304 hospital nurses working in 10 health centers throughout the province, 71.1% were female, 27.21% had 3-5 years of job experience, 96.4% had BS in nursing, and 57.9% were the staff of educational hospitals. The mean (SD) score for nurses’ preparedness (competency and attitude) was 3.4(0.64). The mean (SD) score for nurses’ competency was 3.25 (0.72), and average score for nurses’ attitude was 3.53(0.5). There was a significant correlation between nurses’ competency score and their gender and work experience (P≤0.05).
Regarding the nurses’ preparedness score, it is recommended that they be provided with training courses on disaster preparedness through workshops and or training exercises.

Iran as a developing country is located in the most accident- and disaster-prone geographical areas, and considered among the 10 most disaster-stricken countries in the world.Therefore, healthcare system should be able to deliver a coordinated response in disasters and effectively propose and execute plans to reduce the adverse effects and response time, and also increase preparadness before disasters. Establishing early warning systems before incidents and disasters in hospitals can properly organize the resources and equipment in order to deliver better and more effective services to more people in need.
The research was conducted at Imam Khomeini Hospital (RH), Sari, Iran, in 2016. The study was done through several meetings with some professors of Health in Disasters and members of Disaster Risk Management Committee at incidents to execute early warning systems according to Disaster Preparedness Country program in hospitals. The hospital preparedness in various components was evaluated by the World Health Organization standard checklist, before the intervention and then 1 month and 3 months after the intervention. The obtained data were analysed by Friedman statistical test.
The results showed 52 points increase in the preparedness of the hospital after the intervention, which indicated a significant increase in the hospital preparedness in disasters and incidents from poor level to moderate level.
Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital (RH), was at poor level with regard to preparedness in disasters. However, the significant increase in preparedness after executing early warning system indicates the necessity of developing and implementing this system in other hospitals to increase their level of preparedness.

In the event of a disaster, hospitals and health care centers are among the first response units that their efficient and timely health care provision can have a crucial and decisive role in reducing mortality and rescuing injured patients. Accidents and disasters always have a negative impact on public health and welfare of their damaged population and health care measures are the main factors for survival in this situation. Hospitals are among the first centers that are engaged in unexpected complications of accidents. These events pose unique problems, responding to which requires preparation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching principles of hospital preparedness according to the national program on preparedness of Shahid Motahari Burns Hospital of Tehran in response to disasters.
This research was an interventional study of a quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest. Tehran Shahid Motahari Burns Hospital has been purposefully selected as a research environment. Data collection instrument was the World Health Organization standard checklist comprised of 9 components and 91 questions which was used after confirming its validity and reliability. The researcher collected the relevant data by interview and observation. Training program which included 1-day workshop on hospital preparedness in accidents and disasters based on national program was taught to directors and crisis committee members. One month later, the study instrument was completed by the researcher again as the posttest. Wilcoxon test was used to analyze the data.
The results showed that total score of hospital preparedness changed from 178 to 210 in the follow-up. Before the intervention, the hospital had the highest preparedness regarding components of command and control and the lowest preparedness in the post-disaster recovery. After the intervention, the highest increase of preparedness was observed in the communication component. Also with respect to safety and security, the preparedness of the hospital did not change.
The results indicate the positive impact of education of national program to deal with accidents and disasters in increasing the hospitals preparedness in response to disasters. To create and maintain the preparedness of hospitals, it is recommended that training and implementation of national program be included in the major programs of these institutions.

Positive mental health is one of the important health concepts, which generally evaluates people’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The current study aimed at investigating positive mental health status in East Azerbaijan earthquake survivors.
In this study, a sample of 600 rural adult survivors of East Azerbaijan earthquake were selected by multistage sampling method. Data were collected using positive mental health questionnaire and demographic checklists through face-to-face interview. To analyze data, different statistical tests, including t test were used.
Findings of the current study showed no significant difference between the mean scores of positive mental health and its social subscales in the studied villages. However, the mean scores of emotional well-being subscale in slightly damaged villages and mean scores of psychological well-being subscale in severely damaged villages were higher and significant (P Attention to long-term mental and social outcomes is the missing link of health studies in incidents and disasters, which must be considered to recover and enhance mental and social health of survivors of natural disasters at the earliest time after the incidents.

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.
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.
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.
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.