Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:35:18.052Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mitigating Absenteeism in Hospital Workers During a Pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

Andrew L. Garrett ,
Yoon Soo Park  and
Irwin Redlener
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives: An influenza pandemic, as with any disaster involving contagion or contamination, has the potential to influence the number of health care employees who will report for duty. Our project assessed the uptake of proposed interventions to mitigate absenteeism in hospital workers during a pandemic.

Methods: Focus groups were followed by an Internet-based survey of a convenience sample frame of 17,000 hospital workers across 5 large urban facilities. Employees were asked to select their top barrier to reporting for duty and to score their willingness to work before and after a series of interventions were offered to mitigate it.

Results: Overall, 2864 responses were analyzed. Safety concerns were the most frequently cited top barrier to reporting for work, followed by issues of dependent care and transportation. Significant increases in employee willingness to work scores were observed from mitigation strategies that included preferential access to antiviral medication or personal protective equipment for the employee as well as their immediate family.

Conclusions: The knowledge base on workforce absenteeism during disasters is growing, although in general this issue is underrepresented in emergency planning efforts. Our data suggest that a mitigation strategy that includes options for preferential access to either antiviral therapy, protective equipment, or both for the employee as well as his or her immediate family will have the greatest impact. These findings likely have import for other disasters involving contamination or contagion, and in critical infrastructure sectors beyond health care. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S141–S147)

Keywords

disasterworkforceabilitywillingnessabsenteeismhospitalpersonnel
Type
Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 3 , Issue S2 , December 2009 , pp. S141 - S147
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Chaffee, M.Willingness of health care personnel to work in a disaster: an integrative review of the literature. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3:42–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Irvin, CB, Cindrich, L, Patterson, W, et alSurvey of hospital healthcare personnel response during a potential avian influenza pandemic: will they come to work? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2008;23:328–335.Google Scholar
3.Qureshi, K, Gershon, RR, Sherman, MF, et alHealth care workers’ ability and willingness to report to duty during catastrophic disasters. J Urban Health. 2005;82:378–388.Google Scholar
4.Young, CF, Persell, DJ.Biological, chemical, and nuclear terrorism readiness: major concerns and preparedness of future nurses. Disaster Manag Response. 2004;2:109–114.Google Scholar
5.Abramson, DM, Morse, SS, Garrett, AL, et alPublic health disaster research: surveying the field, defining its future. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2007;1:57–62.Google Scholar
6.Howe D. National Planning Scenarios. April 2005. http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/nationalsecurity/earlywarning/NationalPlanningScenariosApril2005.pdf. Accessed July 17, 2006.Google Scholar
7.NIOSH Safety and Health Care Topic: Healthcare Workers. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/healthcare/. Accessed September 2, 2009.Google Scholar
8.Balicer, RD, Omer, SB, Barnett, DJ, et alSurvey of local public health workers’ perceptions toward responding to an influenza pandemic. J Healthc Prot Manage. 2006;22:1–14.Google Scholar
9.Hogg, W, Huston, P, Martin, C, et alEnhancing public health response to respiratory epidemics: are family physicians ready and willing to help? Can Fam Phys. 2006;52:1254–1260.Google Scholar
10.Lanzilotti, SS, Galanis, D, Leoni, N, et alHawaii medical professionals assessment. Hawaii Med J. 2002;61:162–173.Google Scholar
11.Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, US Senate. Nursing Workforce: Recruitment and Retention of Nurses and Nurse Aides Is a Growing Concern. Washington, DC: US General Accounting Office; 2001:22.Google Scholar