Critical challenges ahead in bioterrorism preparedness training for clinicians.
OBJECTIVE
A survey was distributed to determine physicians' confidence levels in recognizing potential Category-A bioterrorism disease threats (e.g., smallpox, anthrax), preferred means of obtaining continuing medical education (CME) credits, and their knowledge of the Connecticut Department of Public Health's (DPH) disease reporting requirements.


METHODS
Surveys were mailed to all physicians in the three-hospital Yale New Haven Health (YNHH) System (2,174) from January to March 2004; there were 820 respondents for a 37.7% response rate.


RESULTS
A total of 71% of physicians indicated that they were "not confident" that they could recognize five of the infectious agents named; they had higher confidence rates for smallpox (48.8%). Infectious diseases and emergency medicine physicians had the highest rates of confidence. Seventy-eight percent of physicians indicated conferences and lectures as their preferred CME learning modality. Nearly 72% of physicians reported a low familiarity with the DPH reporting requirements.


CONCLUSIONS
The results highlighted the breadth of perceived weaknesses among clinicians from disease recognition to reporting incidents, which signifies the need for greater training in these areas. As clinicians themselves emphasized their lack of skills and knowledge in this area, there should be a rapid development and dissemination of problem-based learning CME courses in bioterrorism preparedness.
Hartwig
Kari A
KA
School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8034, USA. kahwig@yahoo.com
Burich
David
D
Cannon
Christopher
C
Massari
Louis
L
Mueller
Lloyd
L
Dembry
Louise-Marie
LM
D023482:Bioterrorism; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003237:Connecticut; D004493:Education; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires