Background: Bioterrorism is an important challenge for healthcare professionals which has increased worldwide in the last century. Nurses who work as the first respondents in all nursing care units should be trained to be prepared for bioterrorism. Aim: To determine the effect of bioterrorism management training on the level of Knowledge of nurses in medical and educational hospitals.
Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study that was performed on 92 nurses working in Ilammedical and educational hospitals before and after education. Samples were randomly assigned to two control and intervention groups. The questionnaire assessed the level of Knowledge of nursing staff in the field of bioterrorism. The intervention was done in the form of lectures and pamphlets. one month after the training, the questionnaire was completed again by the participants. Results: The Knowledge score of nurses of the intervention and control group before training was not significantly different (p = 0.408), but after the educational intervention, the group Knowledge score in all five areas of study (the nature and concept of bioterrorism, Causal factors of bioterrorism (P> 0.000), Diagnostic factors of bioterrorism (P<0.000), Dissemination of biological and bioterrorism factors (P>0.000), Elimination of pollution and maintenance of victims of bioterrorism accidents (P>0.000) and General Knowledge Nurses (P<0.000), were significantly different and the intervention group experienced a greater increase than the control group.
Conclusion: Educational intervention improves and increases nurses' Knowledgein all five areas of bioterrorism. Therefore, bioterrorism preparedness should be considered through continuing education of health care workers, especially nurses.
Keywords: Bioterrorism, Nurses, Education, Knowledge