Establishing research priorities to improve the One Health efficacy of Australian general practitioners and veterinarians with regard to zoonoses: A modified Delphi survey

Sandra G Steele; Robert Booy; Siobhan M Mor

doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2018.08.001

Establishing research priorities to improve the One Health efficacy of Australian general practitioners and veterinarians with regard to zoonoses: A modified Delphi survey

One Health. 2018 Aug 30:6:7-15. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2018.08.001. eCollection 2018 Dec.

Authors

Sandra G Steele¹, Robert Booy^{2

3}, Siobhan M Mor^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Science, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
² Faculty of Science, School of Medicine, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
³ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ University of Liverpool, Institute of Infection and Global Health, L3 5RF, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

Abstract

While general medical practitioners (GPs) and veterinarians are often the first line responders in the face of a disease outbreak, pathways to improving the One Health efficacy of these clinicians remain unclear. A two-phase modified Delphi survey of professionals with known expertise in One Health ('expert panel') was used to 1) identify key knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) of GPs and veterinarians that would be consistent with a One Health approach to zoonoses; and 2) determine priorities for future surveys with Australian GPs and veterinarians to identify important gaps that impede effective diagnosis and management of zoonoses. A list of 13 topics/sub-topics, as well as a list of 25 specific zoonotic diseases/agents emerged from the first phase of the survey. In the second phase the expert panel identified general knowledge of the clinical aspects and epidemiological aspects of zoonoses, as well as risk management practices, as the most important KAPs and research priorities for both GPs and veterinarians. In terms of diseases, the expert panel regarded knowledge of Hendra virus, Q fever, Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV), anthrax and Brucella suis most important for veterinarians, whilst for GPs, Q fever, gastrointestinal/foodborne diseases, influenza, ABLV and local vector-borne diseases were found to be most important by the expert panel. Some differences were noted in terms of prioritization of topics/sub-topics and diseases/agents according to expert background (veterinary and non-veterinary). The Delphi survey technique enabled efficient collection of data from a diverse range of One Health 'experts'/specialists and provided clear priorities for proposed future research, and potentially for educational interventions to improve One Health efficacy of clinicians.

Keywords: ABLV, Australian bat lyssavirus; Delphi survey; EID, Emerging infectious diseases; Emerging infectious diseases; GP, General medical practitioner; General practitioners; KAP, Knowledge, attitudes and practices; Knowledge, attitudes and practices; MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome; One Health; PPE, Personal protective equipment; SARS, Severe acute respiratory disease; SIG, Special interest group; Veterinarians; Zoonoses.