Health care students' willingness to work during disasters in Turkey

Disasters place a substantial burden on the health care workforce; as such, it is important to understand whether members of the health care workforce might be willing to work during disasters. The aim of this study is to explore the willingness of health care students in nursing, emergency and disaster management (EDM) departments to work during disasters and to examine sociodemographic and disaster-related factors that affect their willingness to work during disasters.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 839 students enrolled in a Turkish University Faculty of Health Science (619 nursing students and 220 EDM students). Chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions were used to determine predictors of willingness to respond to disasters.

The majority of students (62.2%) were willing to work during disasters; however, approximately 31.2% of students were uncertain, and 6.7% were unwilling to work during disasters. Approximately 85.0% of EDM students and 54.0% of nursing students were willing to work during disasters. Overall, participants were more willing to work during earthquake (71.1%) and traffic accident disasters (66.2%) but were less willing to work during contagious disease (35.1%) and gas leak disasters (33.5%). Students' willingness to work during disasters was predicted by program type, educational level and membership in a disaster-related nongovernmental organization.

The majority of students were willing to work during disasters, although these numbers varied according to program and disaster types. These findings have significant implications for disaster education programs and interventions.