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Abstract Background Most U.S. studies on workforce preparedness have a narrow scope, focusing primarily on perceptions of clinical staff in a single hospital and for one type of disaster. In contrast, this study compares the perceptions of workplace disaster preparedness among both clinical and non-clinical staff at all U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities nationwide for three types of disasters (natural, epidemic/pandemic, and manmade). Methods The VA Preparedness Survey used a stratified simple random, web-based survey (fielded from October through December 2018) of all employees at VA medical facilities. We conducted bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to compare the sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of disaster preparedness between clinical and non-clinical VA staff. Results The study population included 4026 VA employees (2488 clinicians and 1538 non-clinicians). Overall, VA staff were less confident in their medical facility’s ability to respond to epidemic/pandemics and manmade disasters. Depending on the type of disaster, clinical staff, compared to non-clinical staff, were less likely to be confident in their VA medical facility’s ability to respond to natural disasters (OR:0.78, 95% CI:0.67–0.93, p

This paper empirically investigates a Common Information Space (CIS) established by medical secretaries so they could support each other during their workplace's transition to a new comprehensive electronic health record, called the Healthcare Platform (HP). With the new system, the secretaries were expected to become partially obsolete, as doctors were to take on a significant load of the clerical work, such as documenting and coding. To handle their changing work situation, the medical secretaries set up an online support group in parallel to, but independent from, the official implementation support organization. The paper's contribution is a characterization of the support group as a common information space (CIS), and analysis of the specific qualities of aworker-drivenCIS as a forum for 1) articulation work required for re-grounding changing tasks and responsibilities, 2) archiving discussions (posts) and guidelines to further their collective interpretation, and 3) creating a space independent of management for employees to work out their new role in an organization in a situation of transition and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most U.S. studies on workforce preparedness have a narrow scope, focusing primarily on perceptions of clinical staff in a single hospital and for one type of disaster. In contrast, this study compares the perceptions of workplace disaster preparedness among both clinical and non-clinical staff at all U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities nationwide for three types of disasters (natural, epidemic/pandemic, and manmade).Methods: The VA Preparedness Survey used a stratified simple random, web-based survey (fielded from October through December 2018) of all employees at VA medical facilities. We conducted bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to compare the sociodemographic characteristics and perceptions of disaster preparedness between clinical and non-clinical VA staff.Results: The study population included 4026 VA employees (2488 clinicians and 1538 non-clinicians). Overall, VA staff were less confident in their medical facility's ability to respond to epidemic/pandemics and manmade disasters. Depending on the type of disaster, clinical staff, compared to non-clinical staff, were less likely to be confident in their VA medical facility's ability to respond to natural disasters (OR:0.78, 95% CI:0.67-0.93, p < 0.01), pandemics (OR:0.82, 95% CI:0.70-0.96, p < 0.05), and manmade disasters (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63-0.86, p < 0.001). On the other hand, clinicians, compared to non-clinicians, were 1.45 to 1.78 more likely to perceive their role in disaster response to be important (natural OR:1.57, 95% CI:1.32-1.87; pandemic OR:1.78, 95% CI:1.51-2.10; manmade: OR:1.45; 95% CI: 1.23-1.71; p's < 0.001), and 1.27 to 1.29 more likely to want additional trainings to prepare for all three types of disasters (natural OR:1.29, 95% CI:1.10-1.51; pandemic OR:1.27, 95% CI:1.08-1.49; manmade OR:1.29; 95% CI:1.09-1.52; p's < 0.01). Clinicians were more likely to be women, younger, and more educated (p's < 0.001) than non-clinicians. Compared to clinicians, non-clinical staff had been employed longer with the VA (p < 0.025) and were more likely to have served in the U.S. Armed Forces (p < 0.001).Conclusions: These findings suggest both a desire and a need for additional training, particularly for clinicians, and with a focus on epidemics/pandemics and manmade disasters. Training programs should underscore the importance of non-clinical roles when responding to disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]