Paper Title
Preparedness Of Primary Health Care Nurses For Disaster Management In Bahrain
Abstract
This study discusses the preparedness of the primary health care nurse’s in terms of their knowledge, skills and
the efficiency of their response during disasters in the kingdom of Bahrain. This descriptive correlation study used a selfdetermination
questionnaire to assess the disaster preparedness among nurses; sample of 150 nurses selected from primary
health care center of type A setting as further reasoned in this paper to be the selection criteria.
The data are analyzed using statistical package (SPSS, 2011) to describe the relationship between the study variables. One
hundred and ten (110) participants completed the survey with a responding rate of 73.3%. The research finding indicated that
most of the nurses responded (55.3%) reported low level of familiarity with disaster preparedness, and (38.3%) are familiar,
while the remaining (6.3%) are strongly familiar. Fifty per cent of the participant are not prepared or did not attend any
formal disaster education programs, and (46.3%) were not involved in any disaster mitigation drill during their work
experience.
The study further elaborates on the importance of properly inducting and preparing nurses and the overall primary health
care centers and how to increases their preparedness for disasters. A summary of recommendations is also raised to the
higher authorities in the ministry of health in Bahrain which include the need for collaboration with world health
organization for a disaster preparedness program to prepare the primary health care nurses to manage real disaster
effectively.
Keywords- Nurse’s Preparedness, Disaster, Management, Knowledge And Skills.