Hospital disaster staffing: if you call, will they come?

To assess hospital employees' attitudes and needs regarding work commitments during disasters.

A 12-item survey was distributed to employees at nine hospitals in five states. Questions addressed willingness to work during a disaster or its aftermath, support services that could encourage employees to remain for extended hours, and conflicting emergency response obligations (e.g., being a volunteer firefighter) that might prevent employees from working at the hospital. Anonymity was assured, and approval was obtained from each hospital's institutional review board.

Of the 2004 surveys distributed, 1711 (85 percent) were returned. Eighty-seven percent of respondents were willing to work after a fire/rescue/collapse mass casualty incident. Respondents were otherwise less willing to work in response to a man-made disaster (biological event: 58 percent; chemical event: 58 percent; radiation event: 57 percent) than a natural disaster (snowstorm: 83 percent; flood: 81 percent; hurricane: 78 percent; earthquake: 79 percent; tornado: 77 percent; ice storm: 75 percent; flu epidemic: 72 percent) (p < 0.001 for all comparisons by chi2 testing). While 44 percent of respondents would come to work in response to any of the 11 disaster types listed, 19 percent were only willing to cover four or fewer types. Long-distance phone service (694, 41 percent), e-mail access (584, 34 percent), pet care (568, 33 percent), and child care (506, 30 percent) were the most common support needs, and 365 respondents (21 percent) reported a conflicting emergency response obligation.

The majority of hospital workers surveyed were willing to report to work in response to some types of disasters but not others, and some indicated they might not be available at all due to conflicting emergency response obligations.