Factors Associated With the Ability and Willingness of Essential Workers to Report to Duty During a Pandemic

Gershon, Robyn R.M.; Magda, Lori A.; Qureshi, Kristine; Riley, Halley; Scanlon, Eileen; Carney, Maria; Richards, Reginald; Sherman, Martin F.

doi:10.1097/jom.0b013e3181f43872

Cited by 70 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Given that severe public health threats require all employees at all skill levels, and in light of LHDs' central position within the public health emergency preparedness system, even the lower bounds of these ranges present a threat to this system's operational effectiveness. Moreover, previous research has shown local public health workers to be the most ready and willing among several civil service and hospital professional cohorts to respond to a pandemic influenza event [21]. In light of this previous research, the suboptimal levels of WTR observed across multiple scenarios among the current study's LHD cohort potentially point to even larger willingness gaps in a variety of responder cohorts, such as law enforcement and fire services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey

et al. 2012

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BackgroundThe all-hazards willingness to respond (WTR) of local public health personnel is critical to emergency preparedness. This study applied a threat-and efficacy-centered framework to characterize these workers' scenario and jurisdictional response willingness patterns toward a range of naturally-occurring and terrorism-related emergency scenarios.MethodsEight geographically diverse local health department (LHD) clusters (four urban and four rural) across the U.S. were recruited and administered an online survey about response willingness and related attitudes/beliefs toward four different public health emergency scenarios between April 2009 and June 2010 (66% response rate). Responses were dichotomized and analyzed using generalized linear multilevel mixed model analyses that also account for within-cluster and within-LHD correlations.ResultsComparisons of rural to urban LHD workers showed statistically significant odds ratios (ORs) for WTR context across scenarios ranging from 1.5 to 2.4. When employees over 40 years old were compared to their younger counterparts, the ORs of WTR ranged from 1.27 to 1.58, and when females were compared to males, the ORs of WTR ranged from 0.57 to 0.61. Across the eight clusters, the percentage of workers indicating they would be unwilling to respond regardless of severity ranged from 14-28% for a weather event; 9-27% for pandemic influenza; 30-56% for a radiological 'dirty' bomb event; and 22-48% for an inhalational anthrax bioterrorism event. Efficacy was consistently identified as an important independent predictor of WTR.ConclusionsResponse willingness deficits in the local public health workforce pose a threat to all-hazards response capacity and health security. Local public health agencies and their stakeholders may incorporate key findings, including identified scenario-based willingness gaps and the importance of efficacy, as targets of preparedness curriculum development efforts and policies for enhancing response willingness. Reasons for an increased willingness in rural cohorts compared to urban cohorts should be further investigated in order to understand and develop methods for improving their overall response.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey

et al. 2012

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“…The international expert panels in step 3 had the option to add new recommendations but no recommendation regarding psychosocial aspects was added to the list. During large outbreaks, these aspects are highly important to ensure employees work attendance and commitment to sustained efforts, while possibly finding themselves at risk of acquiring and transmitting the disease to their family and friends [16]. We assume these recommendations were rejected because the expert panel mainly consisted of doctors and policy makers who tend to focus on the organizational and medical aspects of preparedness, rather than the conditions that facilitate health care professionals to attend work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which recommendations are considered essential for outbreak preparedness by first responders?

Belfroid¹,

Timen

Steenbergen

et al. 2017

BMC Infect Dis

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BackgroundPreparedness is considered essential for healthcare organizations to respond effectively to outbreaks. In the current study we aim to capture the views of first responders on what they consider key recommendations for high quality preparedness. Furthermore, we identified the recommendations with the highest urgency from the perspective of first responders.MethodsWe chose a multistep approach using a systematic Delphi procedure. Previously extracted recommendations from scientific literature were presented to a national and two international expert panels. We asked the experts to score the recommendations based on relevance for high quality preparedness. In addition we asked them to choose the ten most urgent recommendations.ResultsStarting with 80 recommendations from scientific literature, 49 key recommendations were selected by both international expert panels. Differences between both panels were mainly on triage protocols. In addition, large differences were found in the selection of the ten most urgent recommendations.ConclusionsIn this study infectious disease experts selected a set of key recommendations representing high quality preparedness and specified which ones should be given the highest urgency when preparing for a future crisis. These key recommendations can be used to shape their preparedness activities.

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“…10,20,21 Communication with family was a particular concern during periods of quarantine or extended shifts. 10,21 Communication with family members is a strong theme expressed by Australian paramedics who suggest that creating predetermined communication channels and strategies for contacting loved ones would enhance willingness to attend work.…”

Section: Communication With Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring staff willingness to attend work during a disaster: A study of nurses employed in four Australian emergency departments

Arbon

Cusack

Ranse

et al. 2013

Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal

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Factors Associated With the Ability and Willingness of Essential Workers to Report to Duty During a Pandemic

Abstract: During a serious pandemic event, non-illness-related shortfalls among essential workers could be substantial. Organizational preparedness efforts should focus on worker protection programs and the development of policies that would facilitate the attendance of healthy workers.

Cited by 70 publications

References 29 publications

Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey

Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey

Which recommendations are considered essential for outbreak preparedness by first responders?

Exploring staff willingness to attend work during a disaster: A study of nurses employed in four Australian emergency departments

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