Emergency Health Care Workers' Preparedness and Willingness to Respond to a Dirty Bomb-related Disaster in Pakistan.

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness Pub Date : 2025-09-29 DOI:10.1017/dmp.2025.10208

Badar Afzal, Ume-E-Aimen Chhipa, Nargis Asad, Bee-Ah Kang, Daniel Barnett, Amber Mehmood, Simran Motwani, Jawed Dars, Junaid Razzak

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: Our study examined the association between willingness-to-respond (WTR) and behavioral factors, demographics, and work-related characteristics among emergency department healthcare workers (HCWs) toward a radiological dispersal device (RDD) ("dirty bomb") blast scenario in Pakistan.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in August to September 2022 among emergency department HCWs from 2 hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan. Nonprobability purposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the association between WTR and key attitudes/beliefs, including perceived norms, preparedness, and safety, as well as the EPPM variables.

Results: Among behavioral factors, perceived likelihood that colleagues will report to work duty, perceived importance of one's role, and psychological preparedness showed particularly significant associations with WTR; 53.6% of participants indicated low perceived threat, while 46.43% showed high perceived threat, toward an RDD disaster scenario.

Conclusion: Our findings point to the need to improve WTR toward an RDD event by shifting behavioral factors among HCWs through efficacy-focused training; enhancing WTR through such training strategies is imperative beyond mere delivery of information. Changing norms around response, along with institutional support, may further boost WTR during RDD emergencies.

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巴基斯坦紧急卫生保健工作者应对脏弹相关灾难的准备和意愿。

目的：我们的研究考察了巴基斯坦急诊科医护人员（HCWs）对放射性扩散装置（RDD）（“脏弹”）爆炸情景的反应意愿（WTR）与行为因素、人口统计学和工作相关特征之间的关系。方法：于2022年8月至9月对巴基斯坦卡拉奇2家医院急诊科卫生保健员进行横断面调查。采用非概率目的抽样方法招募参与者。采用多变量逻辑回归分析来检验WTR与关键态度/信念之间的关系，包括感知规范、准备和安全性，以及epppm变量。结果：在行为因素中，同事报到可能性感知、角色重要性感知和心理准备对员工工作效率的影响尤为显著；对于RDD灾难场景，53.6%的参与者表示低感知威胁，46.43%的参与者表示高感知威胁。结论：我们的研究结果表明，需要通过以疗效为重点的培训来改变医护人员的行为因素，从而提高RDD事件的WTR；通过这种培训战略加强WTR不仅是提供信息，而且是必不可少的。改变应对方面的规范，加上机构的支持，可能会在RDD紧急情况期间进一步促进WTR。

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来源期刊

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

7.40%

发文量

258

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is the first comprehensive and authoritative journal emphasizing public health preparedness and disaster response for all health care and public health professionals globally. The journal seeks to translate science into practice and integrate medical and public health perspectives. With the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax attacks, the tsunami in Indonesia, hurricane Katrina, SARS and the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, all health care and public health professionals must be prepared to respond to emergency situations. In support of these pressing public health needs, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is committed to the medical and public health communities who are the stewards of the health and security of citizens worldwide.