TY - JOUR
T1 - Determinants of emergency response responsibility perceptions in the local public health workforce after China's health sector restructuring
AU - Jiao, Mingli
AU - Ning, Ning
AU - Wu, Qunhong
AU - Peters, David H.
AU - Hao, Yanhua
AU - Li, Ye
AU - Wei, Xingang
AU - Kang, Zheng
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (71273002, 71473064, 71333003, 71203051);New Century Excellent Talents of University, from the Ministry of Education, China (1252-NCET02); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015 M570211); and Collaborative Innovation Centre of Social Risks Governance in Health; Education Bureau of Heilongjiang Province (JGXM_HLJ_2014087, 349); Research special fund of the Ministry of Health public service sectors funded projects (201002028). The authors are very grateful to Mr. Martin Blair for editing the manuscript. We thank all of the participating organizations and participants, without their cooperation and suggestions, the author is no way to complete this academic research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Jiao et al.
PY - 2015/8/21
Y1 - 2015/8/21
N2 - Background: Local health departments are the backbone of public health emergency (PHE) response plans. The front line of emergency response preparedness is people. Role perceptions of individual staff members of a given organization strongly affect response probability and performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine local public health employees' perceptions of emergency response responsibilities, identify factors that influence their perception, and indicate the challenges and bottlenecks of PHE response in the Health Inspection Institution (HII) after its separation from China's multiple Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Methods: We used a stratified randomized sample survey to examine HII workers' knowledge of their own duties concerning PHE response in 17 facilities in Heilongjiang, a province in northeastern China. Data were collected from May to July 2010 using a 9-item combined question inquiring about the workers' statutory duties. Results: Of 348 administered surveys, 309 were returned for an overall response rate of 88.8 %. Overall, the correct recognition rate of PHE responsibilities was low. Some HII workers were confused about their responsibilities required by law, regulations, and emergency response plans. A quarter of all the respondents had the lowest knowledge for PHE responsibilities. Factors influencing their perceptions of responsibilities were department, work experience in a CDC, and PHE response experience. Conclusions: To improve preparedness for a PHE, efforts are needed to train, support, and monitor the workers' knowledge and competencies in PHEs as part of an organizational change; the worker's knowledge of their responsibilities should be measured and used as an indicator of preparedness for a PHE, and training should be undertaken where there are deficiencies. Management should also encourage workers in the departments of food hygiene/school health surveillance to be more involved in PHE preparedness and response issues.
AB - Background: Local health departments are the backbone of public health emergency (PHE) response plans. The front line of emergency response preparedness is people. Role perceptions of individual staff members of a given organization strongly affect response probability and performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine local public health employees' perceptions of emergency response responsibilities, identify factors that influence their perception, and indicate the challenges and bottlenecks of PHE response in the Health Inspection Institution (HII) after its separation from China's multiple Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Methods: We used a stratified randomized sample survey to examine HII workers' knowledge of their own duties concerning PHE response in 17 facilities in Heilongjiang, a province in northeastern China. Data were collected from May to July 2010 using a 9-item combined question inquiring about the workers' statutory duties. Results: Of 348 administered surveys, 309 were returned for an overall response rate of 88.8 %. Overall, the correct recognition rate of PHE responsibilities was low. Some HII workers were confused about their responsibilities required by law, regulations, and emergency response plans. A quarter of all the respondents had the lowest knowledge for PHE responsibilities. Factors influencing their perceptions of responsibilities were department, work experience in a CDC, and PHE response experience. Conclusions: To improve preparedness for a PHE, efforts are needed to train, support, and monitor the workers' knowledge and competencies in PHEs as part of an organizational change; the worker's knowledge of their responsibilities should be measured and used as an indicator of preparedness for a PHE, and training should be undertaken where there are deficiencies. Management should also encourage workers in the departments of food hygiene/school health surveillance to be more involved in PHE preparedness and response issues.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12913-015-1003-0
DO - 10.1186/s12913-015-1003-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 26293247
AN - SCOPUS:84939630722
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 15
JO - BMC health services research
JF - BMC health services research
IS - 1
M1 - 339
ER -