Jordanian Nurses' Perceived Disaster Preparedness: Factors Influencing Successful Planning

BACKGROUND: Current disaster knowledge, skills, and preparedness levels need to be evaluated to guide plans to strengthen disaster readiness. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the Jordanian staff nurses' perception regarding their familiarity, attitudes, and practices for disaster preparedness (DP) to reduce the negative impacts of disasters. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive study. The study was conducted on nurses working at governmental and private hospitals in Jordan. A convenience sample of 240 currently working nurses was recruited to participate in the study. RESULTS: The nurses were somewhat familiar with their role in DP (2.9 ± .84). The nurses' overall attitude towards DP was 2.2 ± 0.38, indicating that respondents had medium attitude levels. A low practice level for DP (1.59 ± 0.45) was also observed. Among the studied demographic variables, there was a significant relationship between experience and prior training with improved familiarity and practices. This indicates a need for strengthening nurses' practical skills as well as their theoretical knowledge. However, there is only a significant difference between attitude scale scores and disaster preparedness training (f = 10.120; p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The study findings support the need for more training (academic and/or institutional) to increase and improve nursing disaster preparedness locally and globally.