Guidotti Tee L, Ragain Lisa
Center for Risk Science and Public Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
J Water Health. 2008;6 Suppl 1:53-61. doi: 10.2166/wh.2008.032.
Studies of risk communication have identified healthcare providers, especially physicians, as the source of information most trusted by the public on issues of environmental health. Nothing in medical, nursing or most healthcare provider training actually prepares practitioners to play this role and healthcare providers are generally more oriented toward treatment and medical care than prevention and public health. Healthcare providers require education in order to play this role but rarely seek it. Gaps in the knowledge of professional on the issue of Cryptosporidium illustrate the problem. For members of the professional water community, communicating with healthcare providers is best done when messages are delivered in familiar settings, such as hospital Grand Rounds (a universal format for teaching conferences) and provided in a narrative (case-based) form but gaining access is difficult if the topic is not obviously clinical in nature. In addition to being a critically important target group itself, public health professionals are easier to reach and may mediate good working relationships with medical practitioners. We suggest a strategy for water utilities based on partnerships with academic public health and providing education through well-recognized formats in continuing medical and nursing education.
风险沟通研究已确定医疗保健提供者，尤其是医生，是公众在环境卫生问题上最信任的信息来源。医学、护理或大多数医疗保健提供者培训中实际上没有任何内容让从业者为此做好准备，而且医疗保健提供者通常更倾向于治疗和医疗护理而非预防和公共卫生。医疗保健提供者需要接受教育才能发挥这一作用，但他们很少主动寻求。专业人员在隐孢子虫问题上的知识差距就说明了这一问题。对于专业水行业的成员来说，与医疗保健提供者沟通的最佳方式是在熟悉的环境中传递信息，例如医院大查房（教学会议的通用形式），并以叙述（基于案例）的形式提供，但如果主题本质上不是明显的临床问题，就很难获得沟通机会。除了本身是一个极其重要的目标群体外，公共卫生专业人员更容易接触到，并且可能促成与医疗从业者的良好工作关系。我们建议水务公司采取一种基于与学术公共卫生机构合作的策略，并通过在继续医学和护理教育中广为人知的形式提供教育。
