Knowledge of disaster preparedness among medical professionals in JNU Institute for Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Abstract

Background: Disaster causes widespread destruction, disrupting people's lives and causing human suffering with communities finding it difficult to cope. Human beings may not have the power to stop it but they may have the ability to be prepared and minimize the impact of the disaster. The medical professionals play a pivotal role in a disaster situation and its knowledge is a must during their academics. This study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge of disaster preparedness among medical professionals.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical professionals in JNUIMSRC, Jaipur, Rajasthan. A total of 225 people were selected and interviewed. Data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaire and scoring was done for the assessment of knowledge on disaster preparedness. Epi-info software version 7.2.3.1 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Out of a total of 225 respondents, 140 were females and 85 were males. The mean age of respondents was 20±0.58 and most of them were in the 18-24 years age-group (61.33%). A total of 191 (88.9%) respondents had either partial or total lack of knowledge regarding disaster preparedness. Most of the respondents, 195 (86.67%) had a view that there is a need to introduce disaster preparedness training program.Conclusions: The findings revealed that most of the study participants had not attended any training on disaster management and most of them had low knowledge about disaster preparedness. The integration of disaster education into the curriculum is believed to be the most effective strategy.