Evaluation of knowledge and preparedness of medical, dentistry, nursing and laboratory science technology students against a potential bioterrorism attack in Birjand University of Medical Sciences, 2017

Introduction: During recent years, occurrence of terroristic attacks throughout the Middle East and occasionally in Iran have proposed that bioterrorists have the ability to disseminate biologic agents in the region and cause widespread social panic. Medical, health and laboratory personnel have a serious responsibility towards their public community in terms of the prevention, detection and treatment of potential bioterrorism attacks. To fulfill their responsibilities, they need to be trained by taking part in the relevant courses during their undergraduate education. In case of potential bioterrorism attacks, an appropriate level of knowledge and preparedness is essential for medical, health and laboratory personnel to ensure a proper medical response to such outbreaks. This study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge, preparedness and attitude of medical, dentistry, nursing, and laboratory science technology students in Birjand University of medical sciences, Birjand, Iran on a potential bioterrorism attack. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analytical study. A total of 182 students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences in medicine (Med), nursing (Nurse), laboratory science technology (Lst) and dentistry (Dent) who had just passed their microbiology courses took part in this study, in 2017. Students who were not willing to complete the questionnaire were excluded from the study. A non-probabilistic sampling method was used. Data were collected using a licensed questionnaire. The data were extracted from the questionnaires, corrected and analyzed in SPSS software (version 24). All data were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney Tests. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The result of the study showed that the mean scores (out of 100) of knowledge and preparedness of medicine , dental , laboratory science technology, and nursing students were obtained as 45.5±15.9 and 63.2±13.8, 41.3±6.5 and 66±12.5, 35.7±12.8 and 57.5±11.6 ,and 36.3±6.5 and 61.5±7.5, respectively. The knowledge score between Med and laboratory science technology students was significantly different (P=0.003). The same significant difference was also found between medicine and nursing students (P=0.007). Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between dental and laboratory science technology students in terms of preparedness scores (P=0.002). However, no significant difference between dental and medicine students neither on their knowledge nor on their preparedness scores was observed (P=0.376, P=0.257). Conclusions: It can be concluded that the level of knowledge and preparedness of medical, health and medical laboratory science students regarding bioterrorism is relatively low. Therefore, enclosing educational programs about bioterrorism in curriculum of all academic disciplines of medical sciences is suggested.