Effect of Hospital Incident Command System Establishment on the Preparedness Level of Disaster Committee and Nursing Staff of Imam Ali Hospital, Zarand, Iran, 2010

Background: The current study aimed at examining Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) on the rate of accidents and disaster preparedness committee and nursing staff of Imam Ali Hospital in Zarand, Iran. Materials and Methods: The current semi-experimental study was conducted on the members of Crisis Committee (n=9) and nursing personnel (n=38) selected by fully count model. Data collection tools were two valid and reliable questionnaires: hospital disaster preparedness and the nurses’ disaster preparedness. Hospital disaster preparedness also included a two-day workshop on hospital incident command system and the nurses’ disaster preparedness included a one-day workshop on disaster management. Members of the Crisis Committee and nurses were evaluated based on hospital disaster preparedness and nurses’ disaster preparedness questionnaires before and one month after intervention. SPSS V. 16 was used to analyze data. Results: Findings of the current study indicated a major increase in the disaster preparedness of the Crisis Committee (from 88.33 to 130.88) and nurses (from 132.63 to 2077.56) after intervention; in addition, a significant improvement was observed in the nurses group (P=0.000) Conclusion: It was concluded that the establishment of HICS and using disaster preparedness program can improve the preparedness of hospital disaster management committee and nursing personnel against disasters.