Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:48:49.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Survey of Factors Affecting Health Care Workers’ Perception Towards Institutional and Individual Disaster Preparedness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2013

Ghee Hian Lim ,
Beng Leong Lim  and
Alicia Vasu
Ghee Hian Lim*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
Beng Leong Lim
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
Alicia Vasu
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
*
Correspondence: Ghee Hian Lim, MBBS, FRCS, FCEM, EMDM, MMed, FAMS, Department of Emergency Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Block 10, Flora Road #02-02, Singapore 509729, Singapore. E-mail [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction

Health care institutions constantly must be prepared for disaster response. However, there are deficiencies in the current level of preparedness. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the perception of health care workers (HCWs) towards individual and institutional preparedness for a disaster.

Methods

A survey on disaster incident preparedness was conducted among doctors, nurses, and allied health workers over a period of two months in 2010. The survey investigated perceptions of disaster preparedness at the individual and institutional level. Responses were measured using a five-point Likert scale. The primary outcomes were factors affecting HCWs’ perception of institution and individual preparedness. Secondary outcomes were the proportions of staff willing to participate and to place importance on disaster response training and their knowledge of access to such training. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Logistic regression was performed to determine the factors that influenced the HCWs’ perception of their individual and institutional readiness. Odd ratios (ORs) of such factors were reported with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results

Of 1700 HCWs, 1534 (90.2%) completed the survey. 75.3% (1155/1534) felt that the institution was ready for a disaster incident, but only 36.4% (558/1534) felt that they (as individuals) were prepared. Some important factors associated with a positive perception of institution preparedness were leadership preparedness (OR = 13.19; 95% CI, 9.93-17.51), peer preparedness (OR = 6.11; 95% CI, 4.27-8.73) and availability of training opportunities (OR = 4.76; 95% CI, 3.65-6.22). Some important factors associated with a positive perception of individual preparedness were prior experience in disaster response (OR = 2.80; 95% CI, 1.99-3.93), institution preparedness (OR = 3.71; 95% CI, 2.68-5.14), peer preparedness (OR = 3.49; 95% CI, 2.75-4.26), previous training in disaster response (OR = 3.48; 95% CI, 2.76-4.39) and family support (OR = 3.22; 95% CI, 2.54-4.07). Most (80.7%, 1238/1534) were willing to participate in future disaster incident response training, while 74.5% (1143/1534) felt that being able to respond to a disaster incident constitutes part of their professional competency. However, only 27.8% (426/1534) knew how to access these training opportunities.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that HCWs fare poorly in their perception of their individual preparedness. Important factors that might contribute to improving this perception at the individual and institution level have been identified. These factors could guide the review and implementation of future disaster incident response training in health care institutions.

LimGH, LimBL, VasuA. Survey of Factors Affecting Health Care Workers’ Perception Towards Institutional and Individual Disaster Preparedness. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(4):1-6.

Keywords

disasterhealth care workerspreparedness
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , August 2013 , pp. 353 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Ong, EH. War on SARS: a Singapore experience. CJEM. 2004;6(1):31-37.Google ScholarPubMed
2.Tham, KY. An emergency department response to severe acute respiratory syndrome: a prototype response to bioterrorism. Ann Emerg Med. 2004;43(1):6-14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Seow, E. SARS: experience from the emergency department, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. EMJ. 2003;20(6):501-504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Hsu, LY, Derrick Heng, MK, Leo, YS. The Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic in Singapore. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2010;39(4):265-266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Chan, WL, Goh, HK, Vasu, A, et al. Experience of a screening centre for Influenza A/ H1N1—the first 50 days. EMJ. 2011;28(1):18-24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Balicer, RD, Omer, SB, Barnett, DJ, et al. Local public health workers; perception toward responding to an influenza pandemic. BMC Public Health. 2006;6:99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Alexander, GC, Larkin, GL, Wynia, MK. Physicians’ preparedness for bioterrorism and other public health priorities. Acad Emerg Med. 2006;13(11):1238-1241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Qureshi, K, Gershon, RRM, Sherman, MF, et al. Health Care Workers’ ability and willingness to report to duty during catastrophic disasters. J Urban Health. 2002;82(3):378-388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Ehrenreich, JH. Coping With Disaster: A Guidebook to Psychosocial Intervention. Old Westbury, NY: Center for Psychology and Society; 2001.Google Scholar
10.Heather, EK, Daniel, JB, Edbert, BH, et al. Perspective of future physicians on disaster medicine and public health preparedness: challenges of building a capable and sustainable auxiliary medical workforce. DisasterMed Public Health Prep. 2009;3(4):210-216.Google Scholar
11.Alexander, GC, Wynia, MK. Ready and willing? Physician's sense of preparedness for bioterrorism. Health Aff. 2003;22(5):189-197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Rebmann, T, English, JE, Carrico, R. Disaster preparedness lessons learned and future directions for education: results from focus groups conducted at the 2006 APIC conference. Am J Infection Control. 2007;35(6):374-381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed