Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess and compare nurses' and physicians' knowledge of disaster management preparedness. An effective health-care system response to various disasters is paramount, and nurses and physicians must be prepared with appropriate competencies to be able to manage the disaster events.
This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 636 nurses and 257 physicians were recruited from 1 hospital in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 608 (95.6%) nurses and 228 (83.2%) physicians completed self-administered, online questionnaires. The questionnaire assessed participants' sociodemographic data, and disaster management knowledge.
The findings revealed that participants had more knowledge regarding the disaster preparedness stage than mitigation and recovery stages. They also reported a need for advanced disaster training areas. A total of 10.1% of nurses' and 15.6% of physicians' overall knowledge is explained by their demographic and work-related characteristics.
Both nurses and physicians had to some extent knowledge regarding the information and practices required for disaster management process. It is proposed that hospital managers must look for opportunities to effectively adopt national standards to manage disasters and include nurses and physicians in major-related learning activities because experience has suggested a somewhat low overall perceived competence in managing disaster situations.