The Effect of Education of Hospital Incident Command System on Prepardness of Nurses in Nuclear Accidents in Military Hospitals of Mashhad

According to the important role of nurses in facing nuclear disasters, a precise and exact program is crucial. Today, HICS is a common program for the management of facilities and human resources in disasters.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of education of hospital incident command system on preparedness of nurses in nuclear accidents in military hospitals of Mashhad.
This was a semi-experimental study that was conducted at military hospitals in Mashhad, during year 2017. Eighty-three participated nurses were randomly divided to 2 groups. The test group was provided with 2 days of educational workshop of HICS and round-table manouver on the way of facing nuclear disasters. However, the control group had no intervention program. The amount of education effect was compared in 3 stages (before and one week and one month after the intervention), using a checklist and a researcher-made questionnaire. The researcher used the SPSS version 21 software (SPSS, Chicago, IL) to perform statistical analysis. Results were analyzed using independent t student, Fisher’s exact test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Differences were considered statistically significant when P There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups in demographic characteristics and preparedness before the intervention. The average scores of nurse’s preparedness in nuclear accidents in the control and experimental groups a week post-intervention were 144.88±20.1 and 165.46±17.11, and one month post-intervention were 170.32±16.7 and 151.64±19.21, respectively. This difference was statistically significant (P=0.001). In the control group, the average score before the intervention was 138/83 and increased to 151/64 at the time of assessment.
Discussion and The current results revealed that Hospital Incident Command System may improve the preparedness of nurses during nuclear crisis.