Emergency nurses’ preparedness for disaster in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background and objective: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently faced many man-made and natural disasters. Since disaster victims are transferred to hospitals, nurses are among the first health care providers to respond to an emergency. Therefore, to improve disaster management it is essential to examine the current state of nurses' preparedness. The aim of the study was attempts to determine the disaster preparedness of emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study data were collected using two survey tools from the research literature, and 72 participants were recruited from two government hospitals in Riyadh. The response rate was 31.7%. Results: The study revealed that most nurses understood their roles after reading the disaster plan. Although half of the respondents had completed training in the previous 12 months, only 60% answered the item related to confidence after training. There was a significant difference between the confidence of those who had participated in a disaster or mass casualties training program and that of those who had not. Only 26% answered the item related to confidence after being involved in a real disaster, and no significant difference was found between the confidence of those who had attended a real disaster or mass casualties event and that of those who had not. Conclusions: The study found that respondents had minimal and limited disaster experience, as reflected in their low levels of confidence after being involved in real disaster events. This highlights the need for continued efforts to expand disaster training and ensure that nurses are appropriately prepared.

Nurses Readiness Regarding Disaster Preparedness at Alnoor Hospital in Makkah

“…This might be related to the high ratio of female nurses comparing to male nurses due to the concept of nursing as female profession. These results are consistent with Alshehri, (2017) and Nofal, et al, (2018) in Saudi Arabia and other study conducted in India by Khan, Kausar, and Ghani, (2017) who reported that majority of the respondents were female, while it inconsistent with Alzahrani, and Kyratsis, (2014) who reported that more than half of nurses' participants were males. Ibrahim, (2014) and Nofal, (2018) reported majority of the study participants were aged below 30-year-old, while study of Alzahrani, and Kyratsis, (2014) revealed majority of nurses were of age between 20-40 years old.…”

Developing a scale to measure Japanese nurses' individual readiness for deployment to disasters

“…In the present study, we focused on “individual readiness”, defined as the capabilities necessary to provide adequate nursing care in a disaster environment along with the required knowledge, skills, and physical and mental preparation. Measuring individual readiness is vital for RN to recognize their capabilities and for their administrators to select the best dispatch team (Alshehri, ; Der‐Martirosian et al, ; Maeda, Kotera, Matsuda, & Edwards, ; Tzeng et al, ). Furthermore, to evaluate the effectiveness of any educational program or training designed to improve the readiness of RN, a robust instrument should be developed.…”

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of emergency department staff towards disaster and emergency preparedness at tertiary health care hospital in central Saudi Arabia

“…12 A growing number of studies in the literature reported facts about Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's disaster management and preparedness. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Bajow et al, 20 evaluated hospital disaster preparedness in Jeddah region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and showed that although study hospital had the tools and quality indicators for emergency preparedness, staff are lacking the proper training and management of disaster. Moreover, quite a few studies have reported variety in staff knowledge, training and education regarding preparedness for disaster emergency incidents.…”

“…Moreover, quite a few studies have reported variety in staff knowledge, training and education regarding preparedness for disaster emergency incidents. [14][15][16]19,21 Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, practices, and attitudes regarding disaster and emergency preparedness among ED staff at a tertiary health care hospital.…”