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Just in case you were counting on them… 16 percent of public health care workers will not report for work in a flu pandemic emergency—regardless of the severity.
The survey published in PLOS ONE was conducted among 1,835 public health workers in Minnesota, Ohio, and West Virginia from November 2006 to December 2007.
Among the findings:
- Public health workers who were concerned about a pandemic threat but also confident they could perform their roles with a meaningful impact on the situation were 31 times more likely to respond to work in an emergency than those who perceived the threat low and their jobs unimportant
- Workers who perceived the threat of the emergency to be low yet strongly believed in the importance of their jobs were 18 times more likely to say they would respond to work than those who thought the threat low and their jobs unimportant
The survey could help public health agencies design, implement, and evaluate training programs for health workers. The authors’ recommendations:
- Motivate public health workers with a better understanding of why their roles make a difference
- Don’t downplay the threat of a flu scenario in order to calm workers’ fears, since a sense of threat is an important motivator
- Training should include assurances of workers’ personal safety, since 24 percent of respondents considered their work environments unsafe
How about combat pay?
