QUANTITATIVE STUDY: ANALYSIS OF NURSES PREPAREDNESS IN FACING FIRE DISASTERS IN X TYPE B HOSPITALS, SEMARANG CITY

Abstract

Preparedness is an important aspect in disaster management. Hospital buildings are at high risk of explosion, fire, and gas leakage due to their 24 hours of operation. The high-power electrical equipment, high-pressure gas cylinders, and chemicals that are flammable or flammable are the potential hazards in a hospital building. Safety precaution and preparedness are the standard operating procedure for a hospital to protect the patients, visitors, doctors, nurses, and other personnel. Nurses are at the forefront of having an important role in health services, preparedness, and emergency response during disaster's occurence. The nurse can take a role as a commander in the evacuation process and provides emergency first aid to the injured person in a disaster. This study aims to analyze nurses' readiness in dealing with fire disasters at the X type B Hospital of Semarang City. This observational study was conducted in a quantitative method with a cross-sectional approach. Sixty-five nurses from the in-patient department were recruited as the respondents of this study. The investigators distributed the standardised-self administered questionnaires and observation checklists. The collected data were tabulated into frequency distribution and cross-tabulation, and analysed in the Chi-square test. The results show that nurses' preparedness in a fire disaster is associated with knowledge of nurses (p-value 0,043) and the nurses' fire training attendance (p-value 0.001). Furthermore, the installation of active protection systems (p-value 0.012) is significantly associated with the nurses' preparedness. Keywords: Preparedness, Fire, Hospital, Nurse