Nursing Students’ Willingness and Ability to Care in Disasters: Based on All Hazard Scenarios

At the time of an emergency, nurses are one of the most important first responder groups. Thus, their readiness to deal with emergency situations will increase disaster resiliency and continuity of care. The purpose of this study was to determine if whether nursing students at Iran University of Medical Sciences were willing and capable of providing care in a disaster or an emergency circumstance based on their disaster training courses.  

This was a cross-sectional study conducted during 2017 and 2018 in Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Using a simple random sample procedure, 110 nursing students who passed disaster-related courses as part of their degree program (senior year students) were included in this study. Data were collected using the Disaster Survey questionnaire, developed by Qureshi (2005). The questionnaire consists of 8 disaster scenarios and 11 questions.  Reliability testing was done using Cronbach's alpha (8). Scenarios were adapted to the context. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23 and descriptive statistics.  

The response rate was 93%. Participants’  mean age was 21 years. The highest score in the ability to care (61%) was related to explosion incidents and the lowest score inability (22.9%) was related to radioactive incidents.  The highest score of willingness to care (63.5%) in students was related to scenario 4 (explosion incident). The lowest score of willingness to care (32.7%) was for scenario 7 (radioactive bomb explosion) and scenario 2 (infectious disease).  

This study showed that nursing students do not have enough willingness and ability to provide care in radioactive and biological emergencies. There were some shortcomings in nursing education courses, especially in content related to radioactive and biological events.