TY - JOUR
T1 - Disaster preparedness in healthcare professionals amid COVID-19 and beyond
T2 - A systematic review of randomized controlled trials
AU - Su, Zhaohui
AU - McDonnell, Dean
AU - Ahmad, Junaid
AU - Cheshmehzangi, Ali
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/3/28
Y1 - 2023/3/28
N2 - Background: Disasters like COVID-19 are oftentimes inevitable, which makes disaster preparedness indispensable to global health and social stability. However, there is a dearth of understanding of how well healthcare professionals, who often have to work at the epicenter of disasters as they evolve, are trained to be sufficiently prepared for these crises. To this end, this study aims to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of existing interventions that aim to improve healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness. Methods: We searched RCTs that aim to improve healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness in databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Results were screened against the eligibility criteria. The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020192517) and conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 7382 articles were screened for eligibility, among which, 27 RCTs, incorporating 35,145, met the inclusion criteria. Review results show that most of the eligible RCTs were conducted in high-income countries. Only two RCTs were developed in disaster contexts that share similarities with COVID-19. Most of the interventions did not address critical disaster coping abilities, such as how can healthcare professionals protect or improve their personal or the general public's mental health amid pandemics. Furthermore, almost half of the disaster preparedness RCTs failed to generate statistically significant outcomes. Conclusions: Albeit inevitable, disasters are preventable. Our study results underscore the imperative of designing and developing effective and comprehensive interventions that could boost healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness, so that these frontline workers can better protect personal and public health amid global crises like COVID-19.
AB - Background: Disasters like COVID-19 are oftentimes inevitable, which makes disaster preparedness indispensable to global health and social stability. However, there is a dearth of understanding of how well healthcare professionals, who often have to work at the epicenter of disasters as they evolve, are trained to be sufficiently prepared for these crises. To this end, this study aims to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of existing interventions that aim to improve healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness. Methods: We searched RCTs that aim to improve healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness in databases including PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Results were screened against the eligibility criteria. The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020192517) and conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 7382 articles were screened for eligibility, among which, 27 RCTs, incorporating 35,145, met the inclusion criteria. Review results show that most of the eligible RCTs were conducted in high-income countries. Only two RCTs were developed in disaster contexts that share similarities with COVID-19. Most of the interventions did not address critical disaster coping abilities, such as how can healthcare professionals protect or improve their personal or the general public's mental health amid pandemics. Furthermore, almost half of the disaster preparedness RCTs failed to generate statistically significant outcomes. Conclusions: Albeit inevitable, disasters are preventable. Our study results underscore the imperative of designing and developing effective and comprehensive interventions that could boost healthcare professionals’ disaster preparedness, so that these frontline workers can better protect personal and public health amid global crises like COVID-19.
KW - Coronavirus
KW - COVID-19
KW - Disaster preparedness
KW - Emergency management
KW - Healthcare professionals
KW - Randomized controlled trials
KW - RCTs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151468673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103583
DO - 10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103583
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36996556
AN - SCOPUS:85151468673
SN - 1471-5953
VL - 69
JO - Nurse Education in Practice
JF - Nurse Education in Practice
M1 - 103583
ER -