Volume : VIII, Issue : X, October - 2019

A study to assess the Knowledge and Practices regarding Disaster and Emergency preparedness among Staff Nurses working in hospitals of selected districts of Himachal Pradesh

Ms. Shikha Thakur, Dr. Sunita Verma

Abstract :

Background:– Disaster is an occurrence arising with little or no warning, which causes serious disruption of life and perhaps death or injury to large number of people. Disasters pose unique challenge for every medical care facility in terms of infrastructure, capacity, and preparedness. As nurses are the largest manpower group in the health care team they need to be trained to equip with the competencies required during disasters to rescue life and safeguard the health of the individual. AIM: A descriptive study was conducted in hospitals of selected districts of Himachal Pradesh with an objective to assess the Knowledge and Practices regarding Disaster and Emergency preparedness among Staff Nurses and to find out the association of knowledge and practices with selected demographic variables. METHODOLOGY: A Quantitative, non– experimental descriptive survey research approach was adopted for the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select sample size of 350 staff nurses. The self structured knowledge questionnaire and practice checklist was developed and utilized for data collection regarding disaster and emergency preparedness. RESULT: Maximum staff nurses 192 (54.9%) had inadequate knowledge and 214 (61.1%) staff nurses reported to perform average practices regarding Disaster and Emergency preparedness. There was statistically significant correlation (r = .344, p = .000) between the knowledge and practices of the participants. There was no significant association between the knowledge score and selected demographic variables of staff nurses. CONCLUSION: Nurses are the major work force in the health care settings they need to update their knowledge and skills in disaster preparedness to function efficiently in order to save lives at the time of any disaster within the hospital setting. As knowledge influences good practice and good practice saves lives, nursing curriculum should include disaster preparedness to equip nursing students to manage disaster in the hospital setting.

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Article: Download PDF    DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

A STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES REGARDING DISASTER AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AMONG STAFF NURSES WORKING IN HOSPITALS OF SELECTED DISTRICTS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, Ms. Shikha Thakur, Dr. Sunita Verma INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-10 | October-2019

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