Designing and Validating a Training Model for the Staff of the Incident Command System in the Hospitals

The main influencing factor in the success of the crisis management process is the group's readiness to deal with the crisis. Training models are a tool to maintain the preparation of personnel, increase their ability to achieve certain goals, and help them acquire information, skills, and ways of thinking. This research aimed to design and validate a training model for the staff of the hospital incident command system.

The research method was a qualitative-quantitative (mixed method) approach. The statistical population in the qualitative part included experts in the field of incident command system, and in the quantitative part included managers and staff of this system in the hospitals of Guilan province in Iran. The sampling method in the qualitative part was the judgmental forecasting method. Also, the sampling method was cluster random in the quantitative part. According to the data saturation principle, the sample size in the qualitative section was 15 people, and in the quantitative section, 226 people were selected based on Cochran's formula. The data collection tool in the qualitative part was a semi-structured interview and in the quantitative part was a questionnaire extracted from the interview.

After analyzing the categories resulting from interviews with 15 experts, 43 open codes and 12 central codes were determined. Also, five selection codes were obtained as follows: design, analysis, evaluation and feedback, policymaking and determination of strategies, and implementation and support dimension. The findings showed that the design dimension had a more significant effect on designing the training model (path coefficient = 0.987 and t = 176.713). Also, all components had a significant relationship in pattern design. For data analysis, we used the MAXQDA2020 and SmartPls3 software in the qualitative part, and SPSS26 software in the quantitative part.

The results of this research showed that effective command in possible incidents depends on the effective training of employees with a new and up-to-date model.