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
-
- 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
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
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)
8 - Interviewing in disaster-affected areas: lessons learned from post-Katrina surveys of New Orleans residents
-
- By Mollyann Brodie, Kaiser Family Foundation, Claudia Deane, Kaiser Family Foundation, Elizabeth C. Hamel, Kaiser Family Foundation, Melissa Herrmann, Social Science Research Solutions, Eran Ben-Porath, Social Science Research Solutions
- Edited by Roger Tourangeau, Brad Edwards, Timothy P. Johnson, University of Illinois, Chicago, Kirk M. Wolter, University of Chicago, Nancy Bates
-
- Book:
- Hard-to-Survey Populations
- Published online:
- 05 September 2014
- Print publication:
- 28 August 2014, pp 157-179
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Introduction
Even before Hurricane Katrina began to form as a tropical depression over the southeastern Bahamas, New Orleans was a city facing a number of social challenges. The city’s majority Black population was plagued by high poverty rates, high rates of violent crime and high rates of chronic diseases, AIDS and infant mortality, exacerbated by one of the nation’s highest uninsurance rates (Ritea & Young, 2004; Rudowitz, Rowland, & Shartzer, 2006; Webster Jr., & Bishaw, 2006). When the historic port then became the focus of a combination of natural and man-made disaster, its residents became that much more burdened, many uprooted from their homes, some to other dwellings in the city, others gone from the state for good.
In the wake of this disaster, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) determined that one way it could serve the New Orleans community with which it had a long history, as well as the policymakers tasked with leading its recovery, was to apply its survey research expertise to giving a voice and national visibility to residents by reporting what their lives were like in the aftermath of the storm, what they had experienced, what they had lost, and what they needed from recovery efforts. The project turned into a five-year effort which produced four different surveys of the local population, conducted during all three phases of disaster as described in Chapter 6 of this volume (rescue and relief, recovery, and development). The surveys were carried out in conjunction with a team of experts at Social Science Research Solutions, and each was fielded using a different survey methodology, which by default had to evolve along with the changing situation on the ground. This chapter will serve as a case study of this evolving methodology, and what these efforts suggest for interviewing post-disaster populations in the US and internationally.