Assessing the Readiness and Training Needs of Non-urban Physicians in Public Health Emergency and Response

Abstract

Emergency readiness has become a public health priority for United States communities after the 9/11 attacks. Communities that have a less developed public health infrastructure are challenged to organize preparedness and response efforts and to ensure that health care providers are capable of caring for victims of terrorist acts. A survey was used to assess nonurban physicians' prior experience with and selfconfidence in treating, and preferred training needs for responding to chemical, biologic, radiologic, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) cases. Data were collected through a mailed and Webbased survey. Although the response rate was calculated at 30%, approximately one third of the surveys were not able to be delivered. Most respondents reported never having seen or treated CBRNE-inflicted cases and were not confident in their ability to diagnose or treat CBRNE cases, but many were willing to participate in a state-led response plan. Almost half of the individuals had not participated in any related training but expressed interest in receiving training in small group workshops or through CD-ROM. These results provide potential direction for strategic preparedness planning for non-urban health care providers.

Jordanian nurses’ perceptions of their preparedness for disaster management

“…This reflects Jordanian RNs' concern and recognition about the importance of disaster preparedness. These finding are consistent with the results of Hsu et al (2005) who found that emergency preparedness is a public health priority for all health care providers.…”

“…Moreover, it is also not documented to what extent RNs learned about disaster plans in their workplace. These findings are congruent with findings by Hsu et al (2005), who found that the majority (72.4%) of their respondents reported that they had not participated in disaster preparedness and response training. In addition, knowing in advance exactly what is expected of RNs will provide RNs with an opportunity to acquire the pertinent knowledge and to practice necessary skills beforehand.…”

“…These results are similar to previous findings by Baldwin et al (2005) who found that RNs had limited knowledge of potential bioterrorism agents, as well as incomplete understanding of emergency preparedness. In other studies (Chaput et al, 2007;Hsu et al, 2005;Jacobson et al, 2010) found that health care providers (including RNs) felt unprepared for biological, chemical and radiological attacks. However, Manley et al (2006) stated RN disaster preparedness should focus on natural disasters, or large scale accidents, rather than focus on biological disasters, which have been extremely rare.…”

A survey of the preparedness for an influenza pandemic of general practitioners in the West Midlands, UK

“…The results of this survey provide some insight into the current state of perceived pandemic preparedness among a cohort of GPs in one part of the United Kingdom. Internationally, support for our results is provided by studies examining GPs' views regarding their role and practice preparedness in responding to public health emergencies in general including SARS and other biothreats such as pandemic influenza [4][5][6][7][8]. As with this study, respondents highlighted risk communication, clarity of roles, appropriate resources as well as targeted education and training as areas that needed to be addressed in order to be better prepared for a major public health emergency.…”

“…Internationally, research has been conducted on GP preparedness for public health emergencies such as bioterrorism, natural disasters and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) [4][5][6][7][8]. To our knowledge there are no published surveys specifically examining GP preparedness for an influenza pandemic or GP preparedness in non-urban areas.…”