A Study on perceptions of key health care staff towards disease outbreak

To understand health care workers’ perceptions towards a disease outbreak, a survey was conducted in 5 districts of Karnataka, India between August 2009 and December 2009, to understand the factors that may influence their ability and willingness to report to duty in such an event. The data suggest that nearly half of health care workers are not likely to report to duty during an outbreak. The stated likelihood of reporting to duty was significantly greater for clinical than technical and support staff, and perception of the importance of one's role in the district's overall response was the single most influential factor associated with willingness to report for work. The perceived risk among the health care workers was shown to be associated with several factors peripheral to the actual hazard of this event. Lacunae in knowledge identified serve as barriers to outbreak response and must be specifically addressed to enable effective local public health response to this significant threat.