Cross-sectional survey identifies disaster-preparedness gaps among emergency nurses at two Peshawar hospitals

A comparative cross-sectional survey of 102 emergency department nurses at two tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar, Pakistan, found gaps in disaster-preparedness practices and post-disaster recovery knowledge, alongside institutional differences in reported START protocol training and acute triage performance. The findings are summarized from the study abstract; the accessible article was described as an early version of peer-reviewed research subject to further edits.

The survey included 60 nurses from Lady Reading Hospital and 42 from Khyber Teaching Hospital. Researchers collected data with the Revised Public Health Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Disaster Management Questionnaire, an instrument adapted from a validated original. It assessed behavioral preparedness practices, acute triage accuracy under the START protocol and post-disaster recovery knowledge. Between-hospital comparisons used chi-square tests for binary items and independent-sample t-tests for domain scores, with effect sizes measured by Cramér’s V and Cohen’s d.

Only 29.4% of participating nurses reported having ever assisted disaster victims, while 40.2% reported receiving no formal disaster training. Preparedness-practice scores did not differ significantly between the hospitals. Formal START protocol training was more frequently reported at Lady Reading Hospital than at Khyber Teaching Hospital, at 53.3% versus 33.3% (p=0.046). Acute triage accuracy was also higher at Lady Reading Hospital, with mean scores of 2.13 and 1.76, respectively (p=0.006; Cohen’s d=0.57). The reported difference was associated with better classification of patients assigned green and yellow tags. Conversely, nurses at Khyber Teaching Hospital performed better on black-tag classification, at 78.6% compared with 53.3% at Lady Reading Hospital (p=0.012).

Recovery-phase knowledge was described as uniformly low across both institutions. The abstract reports a mean score of 1.83 out of 5, with correct-answer rates below 30% for all items. The authors characterized the results as indicating preparedness gaps, particularly in post-disaster recovery competencies, and said the interhospital differences highlight the need for institution-specific, simulation-based training programmes. They also described the survey as a baseline assessment intended to inform nursing curriculum reform and prospective longitudinal research. Because the study was cross-sectional, it cannot establish that training caused differences in triage performance, and its scope was limited to nurses at the two selected hospitals, potentially limiting generalizability to other settings. The reported results do not demonstrate the effectiveness of a training programme.

Subject of Research: Disaster-preparedness knowledge, training exposure and triage competencies among emergency department nurses in Peshawar

Article Title: Disaster preparedness knowledge and training needs among emergency department nurses in two tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar evaluated through a cross-sectional study

Article References: Pari, B., Khan, S., Arooj, A., Sylvester, S., Zafar, S., Nazir, M., & Khan, R. (2026). Disaster preparedness knowledge and training needs among emergency department nurses in two tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar evaluated through a cross-sectional study. BMC Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05339-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05339-8

Keywords: disaster preparedness, emergency nursing, START triage, cross-sectional survey, Peshawar, nurses, formal training, triage accuracy, post-disaster recovery, tertiary hospitals, Disaster, preparedness