Willingness, ability, and intentions of health care workers to respond

Health care workers (HCWs) are a critical component of the emergency management cycle (prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery). The potential for large numbers of injured from either a man-made or natural disaster has resulted in the development of surge capacity plans and attempts to predict how many HCWs will be available to respond. Since 1991 (with the majority of the research published in 2002 and later), researchers have been conducting studies to learn about the willingness, ability, and intentions of HCWs to respond to disasters. Potential and real barriers to disaster response are being explored as well. This chapter focuses on research authored or coauthored by nurses. Nurse-authored research is just a portion of the growing body of knowledge in this area; however, the findings are consistent with other published works. HCWs are more likely to be willing and able to respond to natural disasters and less likely to be willing and able during infectious outbreaks or incidents with potential exposure to harmful agents (biological, chemical, nuclear, or radiological). HCW concerns include safety of self and family, availability of protective equipment, medicines and vaccines, and caretaking responsibilities (children, elders, and pets).