Examination of disaster knowledge levels of healthcare staff: sample of Çanakkale City

While it is not exactly known when and where the disasters will come to fruition, only some of the parameters can be predicted. This ignorance of disasters brings with it the necessity of an absolute preparation. Following the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Turkey, preparatory work for disasters has gained momentum. It is important for all public and private institutions to carry out the necessary work in preparation for the disasters. Private and public health institutions are at the forefront of these institutions. The hospitals, which make up a large part of the health institutions, serve seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. The fact that the people in the hospitals are in the sensitive group (elderly, sick, surgical, disabled, child, pregnant etc.) reveals the necessity of the highest level of preparedness for unusual situations of the hospitals. Purpose of the study; The staff working in the hospitals in the province of Çanakkale should examine the level of preparation for disasters. Quantitative research method was used in this study. The sample of the research consists of 386 personnel working in Çanakkale State Hospital, Çanakkale 18 March University Medical Faculty Hospital and Çanakkale Anatolian Hospital. Survey form developed by Fatih Karabıyık in the thesis study titled "Planning and Risk Analysis in Health Disaster Management" was used in 2010 as data collection tool. Of the 386 questionnaires applied, 370 were deemed suitable for analysis. Results were obtained by frequency analysis of obtained data, T-test in independent groups, One-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U test. As a result of analyzing the applied statistics, 44.3% of the health personnel participating in the study stated that they did not receive any disaster education before and 50.8% did not participate any disaster related exercises before. In this research conducted on Çanakkale provincial hospital personnel in the first degree earthquake region, it can be said that the high level of education and exercise deficits constitutes a danger in terms of personnel and patients in hospital in case of disaster. As a result of the study, the level of preparedness of the health personnel participating in the survey was found at the middle level (2.97).