Background: In the event of a disaster, hospitals and health care centers are among the first response units that their efficient and timely health care provision can have a crucial and decisive role in reducing mortality and rescuing injured patients. Accidents and disasters always have a negative impact on public health and welfare of their damaged population and health care measures are the main factors for survival in this situation. Hospitals are among the first centers that are engaged in unexpected complications of accidents. These events pose unique problems, responding to which requires preparation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching principles of hospital preparedness according to the national program on preparedness of Shahid Motahari Burns Hospital of Tehran in response to disasters.
Materials and Methods: This research was an interventional study of a quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest. Tehran Shahid Motahari Burns Hospital has been purposefully selected as a research environment. Data collection instrument was the World Health Organization standard checklist comprised of 9 components and 91 questions which was used after confirming its validity and reliability. The researcher collected the relevant data by interview and observation. Training program which included 1-day workshop on hospital preparedness in accidents and disasters based on national program was taught to directors and crisis committee members. One month later, the study instrument was completed by the researcher again as the posttest. Wilcoxon test was used to analyze the data.
Results: The results showed that total score of hospital preparedness changed from 178 to 210 in the follow-up. Before the intervention, the hospital had the highest preparedness regarding components of command and control and the lowest preparedness in the post-disaster recovery. After the intervention, the highest increase of preparedness was observed in the communication component. Also with respect to safety and security, the preparedness of the hospital did not change.
Conclusion: The results indicate the positive impact of education of national program to deal with accidents and disasters in increasing the hospitals preparedness in response to disasters. To create and maintain the preparedness of hospitals, it is recommended that training and implementation of national program be included in the major programs of these institutions.