Survey of Hospital Employees’ Personal Preparedness and Willingness to Work Following a Disaster

Abstract

Public Health experts warn it is not a question of if but when the next flu pandemic will arrive. Historically, we experience three pandemics each century. Many experts suggest we are already overdue for another pandemic. "Today, many influenza experts, including those at the CDC, consider the threat of a serious influenza pandemic to the US to be high. Although the timing and impact of an influenza pandemic is unpredictable, the occurrence is inevitable and potentially devastating." Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director, CDC An influenza pandemic could consist of one or multiple waves with each wave lasting up to eight weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict between 90,000 to 1.8 million people nationally would die depending on the severity of the influenza virus.

Workforce preparedness for disasters: perceptions of clinical and non-clinical staff at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

“…Nevertheless, we found that 57–70% of VA employees would like more training to improve their level of preparedness for a disaster, with the highest proportion of employees reporting the need for training related to epidemics and manmade disasters compared to natural disasters. These findings are consistent with other studies which found that healthcare workers are more likely to be willing and able to respond to natural disasters and less likely to be willing and able during infectious outbreaks and radiological or chemical events [ 12 – 14 , 16 , 21 ].…”

“…a specifically defined role for the individual during a disaster) were three to five times more likely to respond during a disaster than those without a specified role [ 2 ], and those with a higher perceived importance of their role in an emergency were also more able and willing to report to work during a disaster [ 15 , 16 ]. Studies have also found that non-clinical healthcare workers were significantly less willing to respond during catastrophic events than their clinical counterparts [ 2 , 13 , 21 , 22 , 34 ]. Since only around three in five non-clinicians considered their role in disaster response to be important compared to a quarter of clinicians, training programs should target non-clinical staff and emphasize their importance when responding to a disaster.…”

“…The type of disaster may also be a potential barrier for healthcare workers to report to work. Some studies have found that healthcare workers are more willing to respond to natural disasters and mass casualty events, but less likely to respond to infectious outbreaks or epidemics and radiological or chemical events [12][13][14][20][21][22]. Most U.S. studies on workforce preparedness, however, have a narrow scope, focusing on perceptions of clinical staff in a single hospital.…”

Factors associated with healthcare workers willingness to participate in disasters: a cross-sectional study in Sana’a, Yemen

“…It is difficult to obtain a 100% participation of HCW even though it is vital in case of disasters. Previous studies suggested that between 65% and 97% of HCWs were willing to participate in a natural disaster, and between 54% and 86% in an influenza pandemic 11 16 20 21. The reason for this difference in the levels of willingness between the two types of disasters is due to the great distinction in their nature.…”

Disaster Medicine in the Post-9/11 Era

“…Brice et al, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, take this a step further by describing the factors that would enable or restrict providers from working during a disaster. 5 Jasper and colleagues, from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, assess one of the few mandatory, stand-alone disaster medicine courses for medical students in the United States. 6 Finally, Scott and Hutchison, from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, provide perspective regarding the hospital preparedness lessons learned from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.…”