Composition and influencing factors of professionals' capacity in public health emergency rescues: a qualitative study

Front Public Health. 2024 May 9:12:1338839. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1338839. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the composition and influencing factors of professionals' capacity in public health emergency rescues.

Methods: A descriptive qualitative design was used in this study. Medical workers, managers, and members of an emergency rescue team in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, were recruited for participation through a purposive sampling method. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a conventional content analysis method.

Findings: A total of 2 themes and 13 sub-themes emerged from the analysis: ability composition (knowledge reserve, early warning assessment, information reporting, emergency response, self-protection, personal ability, coordination and cooperation, health education) and influencing factors (educational background, region, experience, hospital level, human resources, and financial investment).

Conclusion: These findings offer a basis for the construction of a related indicator system and provide a reference for relevant departments to further optimize their emergency education and training, strengthen their emergency drills, and improve their emergency rescue abilities. The findings indicate that it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of an emergency rescue team, adjust the ratio of personnel, improve their remuneration, and promote work enthusiasm to improve the emergency rescue ability of an organization.

Keywords: ability composition; emergency rescue; influencing factor; professional; public health emergencies; qualitative research.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • China
  • Emergency Medical Services
  • Female
  • Health Personnel / education
  • Humans
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Public Health*
  • Qualitative Research*
  • Rescue Work

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Basic Public Welfare Research Program of China under Grant No. LGF20G030006.