Bioterrorism education effect on knowledge and attitudes of nurses

CONTEXT: The most important way against bioterrorism is reinforcement of knowledge of health and medical team to diagnose and rapid reaction during these events. AIMS: To assess the effect of bioterrorism education on knowledge and attitudes of nurses. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: the setting of study was one of the infectious disease wards, emergency rooms or internal wards of the hospitals under supervision of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this pre-experimental study, 65 nurses who had all inclusion criteria are selected by accessible sampling method. Data on nurses knowledge and attitudes toward bioterrorism were collected using a self-administered questionnaire before and after two two-h sessions education. After a month of education, the units responded to questionnaire again. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: A descriptive statistics Wilcoxon tests and Spearman correlation coefficient were used. RESULTS: Before education, the majority of units (96.9%) had low knowledge about bioterrorism (0-33.3% score of 100%),whereas after education, the majority of them (100%) had good knowledge(well done) (66.7-100% score of 100%). And majority of units (96.9%) before education had indifferent attitude toward bioterrorism (33.4-66.6% score of 100%), whereas a majority of them (98.5%) after education had positive attitude (66.7-100% score of 100%). CONCLUSIONS: The education has a positive effect on nurses’ knowledge and attitudes and it can be a guideline for administrators of the Ministry of Health and medicine for planning to achieve the goals of preventive and defense against bioterrorism.