Abstract:

Aim: Public Health is a field specifically related to disasters and disaster medicine. The purpose of this research is to determine the opinion and education status of public health academic personnel in Istanbul on disasters, especially the earthquake, and to expose their disaster preparedness at their institutions and living area. Methods: The cross-sectional research is used for the study. 53 research assistants and 39 academics working at the faculties of medicine in public and private universities participated to the research. Results: 61.1% of the academics and 71.6% of the research assistants did not receive basic disaster training. Only 5 of the research assistants participating to the research received basic disaster training from their institutions. 77.6% of the research assistants and 50% of the academics do not know whether there is a disaster plan of their institutions or not. Conclusion: Including the basic disaster training subjects in the curriculum of the education process for public health research assistants may improve their self-sufficiency and increase their motivation to take charge in cases of a disaster. The institutions must build up a disaster plan and support their plan and intervention techniques with applied trainings and practices.

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