Evaluation of pharmacists' knowledge in emergency preparedness and disaster management

Instruments for the assessment of disaster management among healthcare professionals: a scoping review

Objectives

The recent disasters have highlighted the importance of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in aiding communities and maintaining consistent services, prompting a global reconsideration of disaster preparedness approaches. This scoping review aimed to identify and evaluate the psychometric properties of the available instruments that measure disaster preparedness and readiness among HCPs.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted using five concepts: disasters, health personnel, preparedness, management, and questionnaire. Three databases were searched for studies published in English. The identified instruments were summarized according to disaster type, disaster management phase, measurement scope/context, and healthcare discipline. The psychometric properties were evaluated according to content validity, response process, internal structure, relation to other variables, and consequences.

Results

The Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ) was the most commonly used instrument, while the Provider Response to Emergency Pandemic (PREP) and the Korean version of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET) were the most valid instruments. Most instruments have undergone limited psychometric evaluations, primarily focusing on content and internal structure validations, with response process, relation to other variables, and consequences not frequently reported.

Conclusion

The review highlights the lack of well-developed assessment instruments for disaster preparedness in healthcare disciplines, highlighting the need for future research to develop and thoroughly validate such instruments.

Systematic review registration

https://www.researchregistry.com/browse-the-registry#registryofsystematicreviewsmeta-analyses/registryofsystematicreviewsmeta-analysesdetails/638dbba71e82b30021c02680/.

Developing and evaluating a Disaster Management Assessment Tool for Health Care Practitioners

BACKGROUND

Over the last fifty years, the frequency and intensity of disasters have escalated, highlighting the importance of healthcare practitioners (HCPs) being thoroughly prepared for disaster management. Despite this pressing need, there is a notable lack of well-developed and rigorously evaluated assessment tools to evaluate disaster preparedness among HCPs across various disciplines and disaster scenarios. This study aims to develop and evaluate a Disaster Management Assessment Tool for Health Care Practitioners (DMAT_HCP).

METHODS

The DMAT_HCP was designed following the four stages of the Disaster Management Framework and a literature review of similar previously validated tools. Content validity was assessed through two rounds of review by nine and six experts, whereas face validity was assessed by 11 HCPs. DMAT_HCP was tested on 107 HCPs from different health disciplines and settings to evaluate the structural (factor analysis) and construct (convergent and divergent) validities as well as internal consistency reliability.

RESULTS

DMAT_HCP comprised five Likert scales that assess the preparedness and readiness of HCPs for disaster, with satisfactory content validity indices (CVI > 0.83 for six experts). Factor analysis of the entire set of DMAT_HCP items suggested six factors: knowledge, two sub-domains of attitude, practice, willingness to practice, and organization-based management, which together accounted for 77.9% of the variance in the data. Convergent and divergent validity analyses showed that all items within a section had a correlation coefficient greater than 0.4 with their corresponding section score, and they were more strongly correlated with their own section than with scores from other sections. Cronbach's alpha values for the individual sections ranged from 0.89 (attitude) to 0.97 (organization-based management), and the overall Cronbach's alpha for the DMAT_HCP was 0.90.

CONCLUSIONS

This study substantiated that DMAT_HCP is both conceptually and methodologically valid and reliable. It has demonstrated strong content validity, accurately measures the intended constructs, and effectively distinguishes between unrelated constructs. The tool also exhibited excellent internal consistency reliability across its components. The tool offers a comprehensive, globally applicable assessment of disaster management, suitable for use across various healthcare professions, settings, disaster contexts, and management phases.

Exploring Volunteer Pharmacists' Experiences in Responding to 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

OBJECTIVE

Pharmacists are vital in disaster response efforts, dispensing essential medications, managing pharmacy services, consulting, and educating survivors regarding their medications. Their contributions, however, are often underrepresented in scientific literature. This study aimed to explore the experiences of pharmacists who provided pharmacy services to meet the pharmaceutical needs of the survivors after 2 major earthquakes in Türkiye in 2023.

METHODS

This study adopted a phenomenological approach. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to invite pharmacists who provided pharmacy services to survivors. Interview transcripts were analyzed following an inductive, reflexive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 15 pharmacists were interviewed. Four main overarching themes "response to the earthquake," "preparedness for the earthquake," "experiences during service delivery," and "mental and physical experiences" were developed.

CONCLUSIONS

From participants' experiences, it is essential to expand the clinical responsibilities of pharmacists and train them in providing wound care, administering immunization, and prescribing. Pharmacists should be integrated as essential members of disaster health teams. International health organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are encouraged to work collaboratively and develop disaster management plans including pharmacists in early responders. This might help mitigate the deficiencies and overcome challenges in health-care systems to provide effective patient-centered care by health professionals and respond effectively to disasters.

Emergency pharmacy workforce views and experience related to the provision of pharmaceutical care during mass gathering events: the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ experience

Purpose

This study aimed to explore emergency pharmacy workforce perspectives and experiences in providing pharmaceutical care during mass gathering events (i.e., FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™).

Methods

A qualitative methodology was employed using focus groups discussions. Emergency pharmacists across Hamad Medical Corporation were invited to participate using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and validated. Inductive thematic analysis was undertaken to generate key themes and subthemes.

Results

Four focus groups were conducted which included 21 participants and generated five major themes. Whilst participants had mixed opinions in relation to their preparedness to practice during the World Cup, they perceived their experience as successful and smooth. The primary perceived facilitators were management support, mobile medical units, and high public health awareness. The main highlighted barriers were related to staff insufficiency, medications availability, and cultural and language challenges. Participants recommended pharmacist's role identification in mass gatherings, development of pharmacy action plan, and offering simulation training and pharmacy-specific training.

Conclusion

Despite the perceived barriers, pharmacists reported positive views in relation to their experience in providing pharmaceutical care during mass gatherings. Future research should focus on the development of theory-driven action framework for pharmacy departments to adopt during mass gatherings.

Disaster Preparedness Amongst Emergency Pharmacists for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Purpose

The aim of this study is to assess the level of preparedness of pharmacists working in the emergency department at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) for any emergency disasters that may take place during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by evaluating their awareness (A), attitude (A), and readiness (R).

Methods

A cross-sectional quantitative observational study was conducted through a web-based survey. The survey was distributed among emergency pharmacists working in general hospitals under HMC. The questionnaire was composed of three major domains assessing awareness, attitude, readiness, as well as an additional domain to collect the participants' demographics. Student's t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation, and linear regression were used with an alpha level of 0.05.

Results

Most pharmacists working in the emergency departments at HMC had high levels of awareness (76.9%), attitude (92%), and readiness (53.8%) for any emergency disasters that may occur during the FIFA World Cup 2022. Nonetheless, almost half of the respondents reported moderate level of readiness for emergency events. Pharmacists with >10 years' practice experience had significantly higher AAR score compared to those with <5 years' experience (P = 0.002). Significant direct positive correlations were found among the 3 AAR parameters (P < 0.05). Attitude was found to be a significant predictor of readiness (P < 0.05). A model composed of attitude and awareness could predict 12% of readiness score.

Conclusion

Emergency pharmacists at HMC have high level of preparedness for any emergency disaster event during the World Cup. Future research should focus on the development of theory-based action framework for pharmacy departments during mass gathering events.