Readiness of the nurses employed by Bezmi-alem Vakif University hospital for disasters

Background This study is intended to increase disaster awareness of the nurses so as to increase the survival rate during disasters. Methods The research was done via a total of 430 nurses, consisting of 360 nurses employed by Bezmialem Vakıf University (BVU) Medical Faculty Hospital and 70 nurses employed by the BVU Dragos Hospital from 01.11.2018 to 01.02.2019. Data was collected by using the Introductory Information Form and the Scale for Basic Qualifications for Readiness of the Nurses for Disasters. IBM SPSS Statistics V23 program was used for evaluation of the data. Results For the nurses, it was determined that the average age was 26.06±6.05 and the average working hours was 6.24±5.86. It was found out that 60.6% of the nurses did not have any training in relation to the disasters. It was found that the average point for perception of readiness for the disasters by the nurses was 5.03±2.38 (0-10) while the average point for perception of disaster plan information at hospital was 4.27±2.53 (0-10). It was established that the nurses consider the disaster management course as the course required most for disaster preparation with a rate of 47.9%. It was found that the average point achieved via the Scale for Basic Qualifications for Readiness of Nurses for Disasters was 141.46±32.48, and the lowest average sub-dimension point was 11.49±3.42 as critical thinking abilities while the highest average sub-dimension point was 48.23±12.21 as technical abilities. A positive weakly significant relationship was found between critical thinking abilities and evaluation of readiness for disasters. Conclusions Nurses have technical knowledge and abilities on topics related to their field, but they need to participate in educational activities for increasing the level of knowledge in terms of disasters. Key messages The role of nurses in emergency health services during disasters is great. Thus, disaster awareness of all the nurses worldwide must be increased so that they are ready for the disasters.