Insights into Disaster Management among Emergency Paramedical Staffs: A Cross-sectional Study at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Tamil Nadu, India

Introduction: Disasters can be natural (e.g., cyclones and earthquakes) or man-made (e.g., chemical spills). Unpredictable disasters and multifaceted damage necessitate that healthcare providers be prepared to manage victims with varying skills and care to mitigate the impact of these disasters. Aim: To assess various aspects pertaining to disaster preparedness and management among paramedical staff in the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, India. Seventy paramedical staff members in the emergency department were included in the study and given a pretested semistructured questionnaire. The collected data was entered into Excel, and the associations between demographic factors and insights were measured using the Chi-square test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27.0. Results: In this study, 44 (62.9%) participants were female. This study showed that 91.4% of the staff had adequate knowledge, while 82.9% demonstrated adequate practice. In the knowledge domain, there were no significant differences across demographic variables. However, in the practice domain, there was a significant difference based on gender (p-value<0.05). A significant association was found between knowledge and practice adequacy (χ2 =26.91, p-value<0.001), indicating that staff members with adequate knowledge are more likely to practice adequately. Conclusion: This study concluded that the levels of knowledge and practice regarding disaster preparedness are adequate among the majority of staff. Management should organise medical education and training programs frequently to achieve standardised levels of preparedness.