Nurses’ Preparedness Toward Bioterrorism and Related Factors: A Multicenter Study

Background: Today, bioterrorism has drawn the attention of disaster response organizations such as hospitals and nurses are at the front line of hospitals' response to bioterrorism.This study examined nurses' preparedness against bioterrorist attacks and related factors. Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study included 529 nurses from 9 hospitals in North Khorasan Province, Iran.A questionnaire with three dimensions, knowledge, risk perception, and personal preparedness, was used to collect data.The scores for preparedness in the three dimensions and the total score were calculated based on 100 points. Results:The MeanSD scores of knowledge, risk perception, personal preparedness and the total score were 3.5711.33,85.958.10,14.9529.47and 37.746.84,respectively.There were positive statistical relationships between knowledge and female gender (P<0.001),holding a bachelor's degree (P<0.001) and receiving bioterrorism training/ exercises (P<0.001).Also, there were positive relationships between risk perception and female gender (P<0.05) and holding a master's degree or higher (P<0.001).In addition, there were positive statistical relationships between personal preparedness and female gender (P<0.05),holding a bachelor's degree (P<0.001),receiving bioterrorism training (P<0.05) and work experience (P<0.001).Finally, there were positive statistical relationships between total score of preparedness and female gender (P<0.001) and receiving bioterrorism training/exercises (P<0.001). Conclusion:Findings revealed that nurses' risk perception scored relatively high, but their knowledge and personal preparedness were alarmingly low.This finding suggests that while nurses recognize the potential threats posed by bioterrorism, they may lack the training to respond effectively.Based on the results of our study, the preparedness of the studied nurses toward bioterrorism was low, and various factors contributed to it.Because of nurses' lack of knowledge, bioterrorism training is highly recommended.