Preparedness in a public health emergency: determinants of willingness and readiness to respond in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Autor: Leão T; EPIUnit, Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Portugal; Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses, e Educação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), Portugal. Electronic address: teresacostaleao@gmail.com., Duarte G; Unidade Local de Saúde de Matosinhos, Matosinhos, Portugal., Gonçalves G; Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores Tecnologia e Ciência (INESCTEC), Porto, Portugal.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Public health [Public Health] 2022 Feb; Vol. 203, pp. 43-46. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jan 10.
DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.11.021
Abstrakt: Objectives: Healthcare professionals' high risk of infection and burnout in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic probably hindered their much-needed preparedness to respond. We aimed to inform how individual and institutional factors contributed for the preparedness to respond during the first months of a public health emergency.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: We surveyed healthcare workers from a Local Health Unit in Portugal, which comprises primary health care centers and hospital services, including public health units and intensive care units, in the second and third months of the COVID-19 epidemic in Portugal. The 460 answers, completed by 252 participants (about 10% of the healthcare workers), were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regressions. We estimated adjusted odds ratios for the readiness and willingness to respond.
Results: Readiness to respond was associated with the perception of adequate infrastructures (aOR = 4.04, P < 0.005), lack of access to personal protective equipment (aOR = 0.26, P < 0.05) and organization (aOR = 0.31, P < 0.05). The willingness to act was associated with the perception of not being able to make a difference (aOR = 0.05, P < 0.005), risk of work-related burnout (aOR = 21.21, P < 0.01) and experiencing colleagues or patients' deaths due to COVID-19 (aOR = 0.24, P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Adequate organization, infrastructures, and access to personal protective equipment may be crucial for workers' preparedness in a new public health emergency, as well workers' understanding of their roles and expected impact. These factors, together with the risk of work-related burnout, shall be taken into account in the planning of the response of healthcare institutions in future public health emergencies.
(Copyright © 2021 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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