Disaster nursing knowledge in earthquake response and relief among Nepalese nurses working in government and non-government sector

Abstract

Background: Recently, the disasters in Nepal as elsewhere has caused a large number of deaths, injury and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. It has also alerted all nurses to be prepared with adequate knowledge in order to respond to a disaster event effectively. This descriptive study aimed to describe and compare the level of knowledge in an earthquake disaster among Nepalese nurses working in government and non-government hospitals.

Methods: Three hundred working registered nurses (RNs) were randomly selected from fourteen government and four non-governmental hospitals located in different parts of Nepal. Nurses’ knowledge in earthquake disaster was obtained through self-reported questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

Results: The majority of the RNs worked in government hospitals (63.2%), more than half (59%) of the respondents had diploma level of education with the majority (66.3%) of them working in a hospital for less than six years. Two thirds (78%) had never attended disaster training drills and nearly half (47.7%) of the RNs determined that they themselves were not ready to face a future disaster. The knowledge of the RNs regarding earthquake disaster was at a moderate level (70.07 ± 10.01). The lowest score of nurses’ knowledge was related to assessment and triage in earthquake disaster response. Nurses working in governmental hospitals have a higher mean score of knowledge than those working in non-governmental hospitals (P < .05).

Conclusion: A disaster nursing training course should be provided for nurses particularly in non-governmental hospitals who had never received disaster training which will improve their knowledge in order to respond to future disasters.