Disaster preparedness perception level of emergencyservice personnels in an education and research hospital

The aim of this study is to determine the disaster preparedness perception level of the personnel working in the Balıkesir Training and Research Hospital emergency department, and to determine what factors affect the disaster preparedness perception level. The universe of the research consists of 200 personnel working in the emergency department. In the study, 169 personnel included in the universe were reached. In this study, a Demographic Form containing 16 questions and a 20-item Disaster Preparedness Perception Scale were used to collect data by using the survey model and the relational survey model among the quantitative research models. The analysis of the data obtained from 169 participants as a result of the research was evaluated with appropriate statistical methods in the IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) program. Parametric tests were used while comparing the total scores of the scale and the scores of these sub-dimensions. Reliability analyzes of the overall score and sub-dimension scores of the scale used in the research were made. For the scale total and sub-dimension scores used in the study, Independent Sample T Test was used in comparisons of two groups, and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) analysis was used in comparisons of more than two groups. According to the findings obtained as a result of the research, gender and marital status variables of Balıkesir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital emergency service personnel did not create a significant difference in their perception levels. It has been determined that the perception levels of the emergency service personnel for the disaster preparedness phase are very high, and their perceptions of preparedness for the response and post-disaster phase are high. In this direction, it can be suggested that emergency service personnel should always be up-to-date and prepared by organizing disaster drills and trainings at frequent intervals. Keywords: Emergency Health Services, Disasters, Perception of Disaster Preparedness