Perceptions Among Medical Staff in Community Health Centres of Coping Capacity Regarding Infectious Disease Epidemics: A Cross-Sectional Study in Shanghai, China

Assessing self-reported public health emergency competencies for civil aviation personnel in China: a pilot study

INTRODUCTION

COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of competent staff with expertise in public health emergency preparedness and response in the civil aviation system. The civil aviation system is a critical sentinel and checkpoint to prevent imported cases and slow the spread of communicable diseases. Understanding the current competencies of staff to deal with public health emergencies will help government agencies develop targeted training and evidence-based policies to improve their public health preparedness and response capabilities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional pilot study was conducted from November 2022 to October 2023, involving 118 staff members from various positions within China's civil aviation system. A 59-item questionnaire was translated and developed according to a competency profile. Data were collected using the self-report questionnaire to measure the workforce's self-perceptions of knowledge and skills associated with public health emergency proficiency, categorized into (1) general competency, (2) preparedness competency, (3) response competency, and (4) recovery competency. KMO & Bartlett test and Cronbach's α reliability analysis were used to test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test, ANOVA, and linear regression models were performed to analyze the competencies.

RESULTS

A total of 107 staff members from the aviation system were surveyed in this study. The KMO & Bartlett test, (KMO = 0.919, P < 0.001) and Cronbach's α coefficients (α = 0.985) for this questionnaire were acceptable. The results suggested that respondents scored a mean of 6.48 out of 9 for the single question. However, the staff needed to acquire more knowledge in investigating epidemic information (5.92) and case managing (5.91) in the response stage. Overall, males scored higher (409.05 ± 81.39) than females (367.99 ± 84.97), with scores in the medical department (445.67 ± 72.01) higher than management (387.00 ± 70.87) and general department (362.32 ± 86.93). Additionally, those with completely subjective evaluation (425.79 ± 88.10) scored higher than the general group (374.39 ± 79.91). To predict the total score, female medical workers were more likely to have lower scores (β = -34.5, P = 0.041). Compared with those in the medical department, the management workers (β = -65.54, P = 0.008) and general workers (β = -78.06, P < 0.001) were associated with a lower total score.

CONCLUSIONS

There was still a gap between the public health emergency competencies of the civil aviation system and the demand. Staff in China's civil aviation systems demonstrated overall competence in public health emergency preparedness and response. However, there was a need to enhance the accumulation of practical experience. Implementing effective training programs for public health emergencies was recommended to mitigate knowledge gaps. Meanwhile, regular training evaluations were also recommended to give comprehensive feedback on the value of the training programs.

Research on the relationship between nurses' emergency public health response capacity and workplace resilience: A cross-sectional study

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing nurses' ability to respond to public health emergencies and understand the relationship between nurses' ability to respond to emergencies and workplace resilience.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of 361 nurses from military hospitals was conducted from January 18 to September 6, 2022, using an online survey. The Infectious Diseases Emergency Response Capacity (IDERC) questionnaire and the Workplace Resilience Scale (WRS) were utilized, and sociodemographic information was also collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency analysis. Differences between groups were identified by one-way analysis of variance, and linear regression was used to analyze the main factors influencing the infectious emergency response capacity.

Results

The average infectious emergency response capacity score on the IDERC questionnaire and workplace resilience, measured by WRS, were 4.01 (SD = 0.76) and 3.85 (SD = 0.71), respectively, on a scale of 1-5, indicating high performance. Factors such as degree of education, nurses' service years and experience in epidemic prevention participation were found to be the main influencing factors of the score of IDERC. The level of workplace resilience showed a positive correlation with the capacity to respond to infectious disease, the score of WRS and the service year accounted for 63.6% of the variance in emergency response capabilities.

Conclusion

The results indicate an urgent need to strengthen the training of nurses with lower degree of education, shorter service years, no prior work, or no experience of epidemic prevention participation, and hospitals should also prioritize improving nurses' workplace resilience through targeted interventions, enhancing their abilities in infectious disease prevention, preparation, first aid, and subsequent critical patient care.

Attitudes and Response Capacities for Public Health Emergencies of Healthcare Workers in Primary Healthcare Institutions: A Cross-Sectional Investigation Conducted in Wuhan, China, in 2020

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.

Facilitate Signing with the Family Doctor: A Study of the Practice in Shanghai, China

Background

In the time since primary care was implemented in China in 2009, programs of promoting residents signing with family doctor services have been key. However, there has been a lack of effective evaluation of its implementation.

Methods

We used mixed methods for evaluating existing measures of facilitating signing with family doctors in Shanghai. Based on the Donabedian model, qualitative informant interviews were conducted to obtain experts’ evaluations in aspects of team construction (structure) and innovative solutions for promoting and supervising signings (process). Quantitative data were used to analyse the utilization situation (outcome) from “Shanghai Family Doctor Signing Data Platform”.

Results

Measures of signing with family doctors in Shanghai have functioned well, but there is still a lack of sufficient family doctors and specialists, including paediatricians and gynaecologists. Although proportions of the key population (average=62.59%) and the elderly population (>65 years) (average=78.10%) who had signed with family doctors were relatively high, the proportion of the permanent resident population (average=29.36%) who had signed with family doctors was low from 2017 to 2020 in Shanghai. The proportions of residents seeking medical advice in signed community health centres in outskirts (71.08%) were higher than those in suburbs (63.51%) and urban areas (53.49%), whereas the proportion of those seeking medical advice from recommended multiple medical institutions were similarly low in urban areas, outskirts and suburbs.

Conclusion

The practice of facilitate signing with family doctors in Shanghai has increased. However, we showed that numbers of family doctors were relatively low, and there remains a need for more experienced gynaecology and paediatrics professionals, compared with Western countries. Additionally, efforts should be made to increase proportions of residents who utilize the program, especially in urban areas, and seek medical services in contracted group hospitals and community health centres.