Purpose
Traditional emergency preparedness planning has focused on emergency department (ED) personnel. During the past 5 years, the world has witnessed anthrax attacks in the United States and worldwide Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreaks. Freestanding community nurse-led clinic training is imperative. These are the likely sites of the initial clustering of unusual symptoms signaling an emergency event, resulting in the activation of the major incident plan. Current resources (managerial directives and training) shared by emergency departments and community nurse clinics require analysis for their appropriateness and use.
Design
The study utilizes a quantitative comparative structured survey determining the individuals' place of employment, previous major incident training (objective data), and if they believe their current training is adequate and appropriate (subjective data). A statistician and a clinical expert have confirmed the questionnaire's accuracy and appropriateness.
Setting
The study settings are both metropolitan – two emergency departments and two independent nurse-led community centers situated in the central region of the United Kingdom.
Participants
Participant selection used probability sampling (n = 100 as suggested by the statistician). Additionally, each participant must be a Registered Nurse (RN) with a minimum of one year of prior work experience (appropriate to the clinical setting). The selection questionnaire contains no identifying information, ensuring respondent confidentiality. Age range is from 20-65 years of age.
Methods
The Likert scale questionnaire ascertains what emergency preparedness training the nurses have completed and whether they believe their current level of training is sufficient and appropriate for their place of work. The survey methodology chosen allowed the researcher to minimize researcher bias and obtain concise quantitative empirical data. The Chi-Square test and a statistical software package provided the means for data analysis by the statistician.
Results
Anticipated preliminary outcomes indicate all personnel feel that additional training is required, particularly in specific clinical conditions such as SARS, anthrax, and smallpox presentation. Primary care staff personnel indicate that resource sharing with emergency departments would enhance their training. At the current time, ED personnel appear to have more focused training. Findings to date (literature and initial data) support these initial outcomes. Estimated availability date of all data and statistical data is the end of February 2006.
Recommendations
Anticipated outcomes support the premise of collaboration. Joint training sessions, on actual anticipated clinical presentations of SARS, anthrax and smallpox, and not just the principles of managing a major incident, would certainly enhance RN training and build links between hospital and community settings. Future studies could examine other health care professionals' (pre-hospital personnel, physicians, undergraduate nursing students) attitudes toward emergency preparedness training.