Survey of Factors Affecting Health Care Workers’ Perception Towards Institutional and Individual Disaster Preparedness

Abstract

This study demonstrated that HCWs fare poorly in their perception of their individual preparedness. Important factors that might contribute to improving this perception at the individual and institution level have been identified. These factors could guide the review and implementation of future disaster incident response training in health care institutions.

Readiness of hospital nurses for disaster responses in Taiwan: A cross-sectional study

“…Overall, the majority of these hospital nurses reported poor readiness for disaster responses, consistent with previous findings for 140 hospital nurses in Australia (Corrigan and Samrasinghe, 2012), 620 hospital nurses in the US (Baack and Alfred, 2013), and 164 nurses in Hong Kong (Fung et al, 2008). Participants in our study with disasterrelated training or experience in disaster response were more likely to perceive readiness for future disaster events, as previously reported from Singapore (Lim et al, 2013). In addition, our participants' readiness for disaster responses were associated with having a bachelor's degree, emergency/intensive care experience, N 10 years of nursing experience, and a military background.…”

“…Regarding the relationship between readiness for disaster responses and demographic characteristics, participants with experience in disaster responses displayed greater scores in the four domains than those without disaster experience, as reported in the US (Baack and Alfred, 2013) and Singapore (Lim et al, 2013). We also found that participants with emergency/intensive care experience displayed better selfreported scores in self-protection, emergency response and clinical management than nurses without emergency/intensive care experience.…”

Disaster Preparedness in Philippine Nurses

“…However, most of them considered themselves to be not sufficiently ready to respond to disasters correctly. In a more recent survey on disaster management and preparedness conducted by Lim et al (2013) among professional health workers in Singapore, only 36.4% felt they were sufficiently ready to take part in a disaster response team. Furthermore, it was revealed that positive perceptions of an individual's readiness for disaster response was higher in nurses than in medical and other allied health staff members.…”

“…With that being said, the majority of nurses are not yet adequately prepared to respond. Despite the many initiatives that have been made locally and internationally, knowledge and skills to effectively respond to disasters remain inadequate among nurses (Baack & Alfred, 2013;Duong, 2009;Fung et al, 2008;Ibrahim, 2014;Lim et al, 2013;Natan et al, 2014;Yan, Turale, Stone, & Petrini, 2015).…”

“…Nurses, as prime respondents during disasters, should have adequate skills and knowledge related to disasters and disaster management (Baack & Alfred, 2013;Duong, 2009;Fung et al, 2008;Ibrahim, 2014;Lim, Lim, & Vasu, 2013;Natan, Nigel, Yevdayev, Qadan, & Dudkiewicz, 2014). This information can play a key role in helping health and social agencies, government agencies, and nongovernment sectors, as well as the community, in times of disasters.…”