Gauging U.S. Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to respond to pandemic influenza using a threat- and efficacy-based assessment framework

• Published in: PloS one 2010-03, Vol.5 (3), p.e9856-e9856
• Main Authors: Barnett, Daniel J, Levine, Roger, Thompson, Carol B, Wijetunge, Gamunu U, Oliver, Anthony L, Bentley, Melissa A, Neubert, Patrick D, Pirrallo, Ronald G, Links, Jonathan M, Balicer, Ran D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitudes; Behavior; Contract manufacturing; Critical Care and Emergency Medicine; Development and progression; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Disease transmission; Effectiveness; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Emergency Medical Services - organization & administration; Emergency preparedness; Emergency response; Emergency services; Environmental health; Epidemics; Female; Gaging; Health care; Health Planning - trends; Health risks; Health sciences; Health services; Hospitals; Humans; Immunization; Infectious diseases; Infectious Diseases/Viral Infections; Influenza; Influenza vaccines; Influenza, Human - epidemiology; Influenza, Human - prevention & control; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Multiprocessing; Multivariate Analysis; Occupational health; Occupational safety; Pandemics; Perceptions; Professionals; Public health; Public Health and Epidemiology/Health Policy; Public Health and Epidemiology/Occupational and Industrial Medicine; Public health education; Public Health Practice; Regression Analysis; Risk assessment; Safety regulations; Studies; Surveys; Swine flu; United States; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009856

Emergency Medical Services workers' willingness to report to duty in an influenza pandemic is essential to healthcare system surge amidst a global threat. Application of Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) has shown utility for revealing influences of perceived threat and efficacy on non-EMS public health providers' willingness to respond in an influenza pandemic. We thus propose using an EPPM-informed assessment of EMS workers' perspectives toward fulfilling their influenza pandemic response roles. We administered an EPPM-informed snapshot survey about attitudes and beliefs toward pandemic influenza response, to a nationally representative, stratified random sample of 1,537 U.S. EMS workers from May-June 2009 (overall response rate: 49%). Of the 586 respondents who met inclusion criteria (currently active EMS providers in primarily EMS response roles), 12% indicated they would not voluntarily report to duty in a pandemic influenza emergency if asked, 7% if required. A majority (52%) indicated their unwillingness to report to work if risk of disease transmission to family existed. Confidence in personal safety at work (OR = 3.3) and a high threat/high efficacy ("concerned and confident") EPPM profile (OR = 4.7) distinguished those who were more likely to voluntarily report to duty. Although 96% of EMS workers indicated that they would probably or definitely report to work if they were guaranteed a pandemic influenza vaccine, only 59% had received an influenza immunization in the preceding 12 months. EMS workers' response willingness gaps pose a substantial challenge to prehospital surge capacity in an influenza pandemic. "Concerned and confident" EMS workers are more than four times as likely to fulfill pandemic influenza response expectations. Confidence in workplace safety is a positively influential modifier of their response willingness. These findings can inform insights into interventions for enhancing EMS workers' willingness to respond in the face of a global infectious disease threat.