Nurses have pivotal roles before, during, and after disasters. Enhancing their professional skills to help the injured is one the basic principles in health management in disasters. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of training disaster nursing preparedness on improving the preparedness of nurses.

Using a quasi-experimental method, 113 nurses were selected randomly. The preparedness program, which consisted of a one-day workshop on disaster management, a tabletop exercise, and an operational maneuver, was executed for the participants. The preparedness of all participating nurses was measured by disaster preparedness questionnaire, one week and also one month after the program. Data analysis was performed by using the ANOVA test.

The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and performance improved from 5.55 to 19.88, from 66.18 to 72.41, and from 3.36 to 12.48, respectively (p < 0.001). In addition, the mean of total preparedness score was increased from 75.14 in pretest to 104.77 in the follow up (p < 0.001).

Preparedness plan training improves participants' preparedness for responding disasters, because preparedness and reliability for responding to disasters is influenced directly by the training courses and previous experiments. Therefore, based on the results obtained in this project, in order to improve the preparedness of nursing staff, including a disaster preparedness plan in academic, educational curriculum and as a continuing educational program is recommended.