Local public health workers' perceptions toward responding to an influenza pandemic.
BACKGROUND
Current national preparedness plans require local health departments to play an integral role in responding to an influenza pandemic, a major public health threat that the World Health Organization has described as "inevitable and possibly imminent". To understand local public health workers' perceptions toward pandemic influenza response, we surveyed 308 employees at three health departments in Maryland from March-July 2005, on factors that may influence their ability and willingness to report to duty in such an event.


RESULTS
The data suggest that nearly half of the local health department workers are likely not to report to duty during a pandemic. The stated likelihood of reporting to duty was significantly greater for clinical (Multivariate OR: 2.5; CI 1.3-4.7) than technical and support staff, and perception of the importance of one's role in the agency's overall response was the single most influential factor associated with willingness to report (Multivariate OR: 9.5; CI 4.6-19.9).


CONCLUSIONS
The perceived risk among public health workers was shown to be associated with several factors peripheral to the actual hazard of this event. These risk perception modifiers and the knowledge gaps identified serve as barriers to pandemic influenza response and must be specifically addressed to enable effective local public health response to this significant threat.
Balicer
Ran D
RD
Epidemiology Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel. rbalicer@netvision.net.il
Omer
Saad B
SB
Barnett
Daniel J
DJ
Everly
George S
GS
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011635:Public Health Administration; D015980:Public Health Practice; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D000078329:Workforce