Bioterrorism education effect on knowledge and attitudes of nurses.

CONTEXT

The most important way against bioterrorism is reinforcement of knowledge of health and medical team to diagnose and rapid reaction during these events.

AIMS

To assess the effect of bioterrorism education on knowledge and attitudes of nurses.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

the setting of study was one of the infectious disease wards, emergency rooms or internal wards of the hospitals under supervision of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this pre-experimental study, 65 nurses who had all inclusion criteria are selected by accessible sampling method. Data on nurses knowledge and attitudes toward bioterrorism were collected using a self-administered questionnaire before and after two two-h sessions education. After a month of education, the units responded to questionnaire again.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

A descriptive statistics Wilcoxon tests and Spearman correlation coefficient were used.

RESULTS

Before education, the majority of units (96.9%) had low knowledge about bioterrorism (0-33.3% score of 100%),whereas after education, the majority of them (100%) had good knowledge(well done) (66.7-100% score of 100%). And majority of units (96.9%) before education had indifferent attitude toward bioterrorism (33.4-66.6% score of 100%), whereas a majority of them (98.5%) after education had positive attitude (66.7-100% score of 100%).

CONCLUSIONS

The education has a positive effect on nurses' knowledge and attitudes and it can be a guideline for administrators of the Ministry of Health and medicine for planning to achieve the goals of preventive and defense against bioterrorism.