Previous Research Suggests Healthcare Workers Could Balk At Treating Ebola Patients
Daniel Barnett, MD, MPH, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has conducted research on healthcare workers’ unwillingness to report to work when there is a potential for infectious-disease transmission to themselves and their family members. This scenario has played out in West Africa and Spain and could, given this week’s news that two U.S. healthcare workers have tested positive for Ebola, potentially unfold in the U.S. as well.
So far, that does not seem to be the case. But Dr. Barnett notes that continued U.S. willingness among healthcare workers to work with Ebola patients is not a given, at least not according to a growing body of research. In an earlier study, Dr. Barnett and colleagues found that one-third of workers at a large U.S. urban medical center would be unwilling to respond to a severe infectious disease outbreak.
U.S. health care workers have been voicing their concerns. On Tuesday, Thomas Frieden, MD, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "I've been hearing loud and clear from healthcare workers from around the country that they're worried.”
JHSPH’s Dr. Barnett can comment on healthcare workers’ concerns over infection, fears about reporting to work and training strategies that could offset anxieties over being infected or infecting others.
“An individual’s personal perception of the importance of his or her work during the response phase and his or her sense of confidence in performing this role effectively, are among the most powerful determinants of willingness to respond,” notes Dr. Barnett. “Our research also suggests that familiarizing health responders with laws and policies designed to protect their wellbeing in an emergent infectious disease event is important for bolstering response willingness,” Barnett adds.
For training to be effective, Barnett notes, it must provide clear guidance on infection control protocols and instill a clear understanding of outbreak response duties.
While his work has focused on influenza and other infectious diseases and not explicitly on Ebola, Dr. Barnett says that many of the same issues are likely at play.
Media contact:Barbara BenhamJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health[email protected]443-703-8851 (cell)
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