Objectives: Response capacities for public health emergencies (PHEs) amongst healthcare workers play important roles in the prevention and control of PHEs. This study assessed the attitudes and response capacities of PHE workers in primary healthcare (PHC) institutions.
Methods: An online anonymous questionnaire survey of 803 healthcare workers sampled from 13 PHC institutions in Wuhan, China, was conducted from April to June 2020. The Kruskal-Wallis test and linear regression model were used to analyze the response capacities of PHE workers and associated factors.
Results: The healthcare workers with longer working years, particularly 30 years and above, had higher knowledge (OR = 7.323, p < 0.001) and practical ability scores (OR = 8.012, p < 0.001) when compared to those with less than 5 working years. The nurses had higher practical ability scores (OR = 2.188, p = 0.049), and pharmacists had lower practical ability scores (OR = 0.166, p = 0.007), when compared to doctors. Moreover, the healthcare workers who had never participated in educational activities related to PHE management in the past two years (OR = 0.540, p = 0.038; OR = 0.282, p = 0.001), had not participated in a PHE drill activity (OR = 0.327, p < 0.001; OR = 0.340, p = 0.004), and had never been involved in emergency management of PHEs (OR = 0.254, p < 0.001; OR = 0.174, p < 0.001) had lower knowledge and practical ability scores.
Conclusion: The healthcare workers with longer working years had better response capacities, and nurses had better practical abilities when compared to doctors. More emergency management education and chances to be involved in PHE drill activities were encouraged amongst healthcare workers in PHC institutions for better prevention and control of PHEs. Moreover, inter-institution cooperation, a flexible response system, and dynamic adjustment of healthcare workers were suggested during PHEs.
Keywords: attitude; healthcare workers; primary healthcare institutions; public health emergencies; response capacities.