2 results
Physician Emergency Preparedness: A National Poll of Physicians
- Gillian K. SteelFisher, Robert J. Blendon, Amanda S. Brulé, Keri M. Lubell, Loretta Jackson Brown, Dahna Batts, Eran Ben-Porath
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- Journal:
- Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness / Volume 9 / Issue 6 / December 2015
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 06 November 2015, pp. 666-680
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Objective
To provide a more comprehensive view than previously available of US physician preparedness for public health emergencies, this study examined physicians’ assessments of their preparedness, training, participation in institutional activities, information practices, and experiences with patient education. Four kinds of public health emergencies were considered: natural disasters, major airborne infections, major foodborne illness outbreaks, and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosives (CBRNE) incidents.
MethodsBetween October 19, 2011, and January 11, 2012, researchers conducted a national poll among 1603 practicing physicians in a range of specialties in hospital and nonhospital settings.
ResultsMore than one-half of physicians felt prepared to handle a natural disaster, a major outbreak of an airborne infection, or a major foodborne illness outbreak, whereas one-third (34%) felt prepared to handle a CBRNE incident. About one-half of physicians (55%) had participated in training or a conference related to emergencies in the past 2 years. Sizable fractions of physicians were unaware of emergency response tools in their care setting. For example, nearly one-half in hospitals (44%) did not know whether their care setting had an emergency response plan, and less than one-quarter had participated in a drill using such a plan in the past 2 years. Less than one-third (31%) of physicians had signed up to receive alerts in the case of future emergencies. One in 10 reported sharing emergency information with patients at least “sometimes.”
ConclusionsSignificant gaps remain in physician preparedness for public health emergencies, as well as in related training and participation in institutional activities. New efforts, with a focus on possible collaborations between public health institutions and health system leaders combined with effective use of online resources, are needed to bring more physicians on board and to develop relevant and useful key tools. New approaches, including those that rely on different types of care providers, may be needed to enhance patient education regarding emergency preparedness. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:666–680)
Individual and Community Influences on Adherence to Directives in the Event of a Plague Attack: Survey Results
- Ricardo J. Wray, Jenine K. Harris, Keri Jupka, Santosh Vijaykumar, Elizabeth W. Mitchell, William Pollard, Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez, Dori Reissman, Keri Lubell
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- Journal:
- Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness / Volume 6 / Issue 3 / October 2012
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 08 April 2013, pp. 253-262
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Objectives: During a public health emergency, public health officials issue directives with actions people need to take to protect themselves. Past research has shown that adherence to these directives depends on individual beliefs and circumstances. This report presents new research about the effects of community factors on adherence.
Methods: A random digit-dial survey of 936 residents in the St Louis, Missouri, area was conducted in 2008 to assess barriers to and facilitators of adherence to directives issued in response to a hypothetical scenario involving the intentional release of the bacterium that causes plague. Community factors were assessed using characteristics of census tracts for individual respondents. Multilevel modeling was used to understand how individual and community factors contributed to the likelihood of adherence.
Results: The majority of participants indicated that they would adhere to 3 distinct directives. Community poverty and ethnic homogeneity as well as individual-level barriers were negatively associated with adherence to a 6-day quarantine. Having children younger than 18 years and being away from home when the directive was called were negatively associated with adherence to a 10-hour quarantine. Logistical concerns were negatively associated with visiting a point of dispensing for prophylactic antibiotics.
Conclusions: Our findings establish an empirical basis for the influence of community factors on adherence to public health directives. The influence of community and individual factors on adherence varies across directives. Consequently, communication strategies to disseminate directives and organizational strategies to support them must vary according to the nature of the directives.
(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:253–262)