Assessing the readiness of military nurses in the field of incident command system during the Covid-19 pandemic

Military nurses are at the frontline of responding to disasters. An incidentcommand system is a managerial structure that is used to control and reduce disaster risk. Military nurse's preparedness in the ICS area during the COVID19pandemic could affect their performance in the response phase.

the aim of this study was to evaluate nurses’ readiness in selected Military hospitals in the field of accident command system to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 308 military nurses were selected by quota random sampling. The data collection tool was nurses' readiness assessment questionnaire in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS Software version 23. The statistical significance level was considered P <0.05.

Most participants were male and in the age range of 20-30 years (57.5% and 50.3%, respectively). The majority of participants had a bachelor's degree (94.8%). The mean score of the total participants was 10.62 ± 24.95 that demonstrates a low level of preparedness among the study population. The accident command system readiness scores was significantly different between male and female nurses. The readiness scores of male and female nurses was 26.70 ±10.05 and 22.59± 10.95 ± 10.05, respectively. T-test with P = 0.001 showed a statistically significant difference. ANOVA test showed a significant difference between nurses' preparedness in different hospitals. No relationship was found between readiness and other demographic characteristics.

Military hospital nurses did not have sufficient preparation in the field of incident command systems; therefore, it is better to apply appropriate measures such as designing disaster-specific systems and training. Nurse’s preparedness is necessary for a flexible responsive structure against a crisis like COVID-19 and, because the accident command systems will increase their readiness, raising their preparedness should be one of the priorities of military hospitals.