Heideman Mike, Hawley Suzanne R
Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Topeka, KS, USA.
J Allied Health. 2007 Summer;36(2):72-6.
In times of disaster or crisis, all rural health workers, including allied health professionals, are potential first responders. Allied health professionals must therefore be well equipped to deal with the communication needs of the public during a crisis. To meet this need, the state health department in Kansas, an almost entirely rural state, conducted a risk communication needs assessment and message-mapping workshop in cooperation with the Consortium for Risk and Crisis Communication. Through a series of three focus groups, the state's most pressing communication needs were gathered in regard to agricultural, biological, and chemical/radioactive/explosive threats. Based on these needs, content was developed for a message-mapping workshop for 29 allied health professionals and emergency responders. Participants learned appropriate crisis responses to specific areas of concern. Workshop evaluations using a Likert-type response scale revealed that participants' knowledge of risk communication concepts increased to a significant degree following the message-mapping workshop. The risk communication needs assessment and message-mapping workshop represent an important beginning to addressing rural preparedness at a multiagency, grassroots level. Effective emergency response in a rural area depends on the preparedness skill level of allied health professionals as well as emergency responders.
在灾难或危机时期，所有农村卫生工作者，包括专职医疗人员，都是潜在的第一响应者。因此，专职医疗人员必须做好充分准备，以应对危机期间公众的沟通需求。为满足这一需求，堪萨斯州（一个几乎全是农村地区的州）的州卫生部门与风险与危机沟通联盟合作，开展了一次风险沟通需求评估和信息映射研讨会。通过一系列三场焦点小组讨论，收集了该州在农业、生物以及化学/放射性/爆炸物威胁方面最紧迫的沟通需求。基于这些需求，为29名专职医疗人员和应急响应人员开展了一次信息映射研讨会，并制定了相关内容。参与者学习了针对特定关注领域的适当危机应对措施。使用李克特量表式回应尺度进行的研讨会评估显示，在信息映射研讨会之后，参与者对风险沟通概念的了解有了显著提高。风险沟通需求评估和信息映射研讨会是在多机构基层层面解决农村备灾问题的一个重要开端。农村地区的有效应急响应取决于专职医疗人员以及应急响应人员的备灾技能水平。
