QS172. Perceptions of Personal and Institutional Preparedness for A Disaster Response Among Pediatric Surgeons

Introduction: The threat of domestic terrorism and concern for vulnerable populations such as children are major public health concerns. Disaster preparedness at the institutional level is now required by organizations such as JCAHO but pediatric preparations are often lacking. Pediatric health care workers (HCW), in this case pediatric surgeons, are not involved in disaster planning. We hypothesized that pediatric surgeons involved in institutional disaster planning are more likely to feel personally prepared and thus willing to respond to a catastrophic event. Methods: After IRB approval, we conducted an anonymous online survey of members of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA). We explored 4 domains: 1) Demographics, 2) Disaster experience and perceived personal and institutional preparedness, 3) Attitudes regarding responsibility and willingness to participate in a disaster response, 4) Ability to participate in a disaster response. We performed univariate and bivariate analyses and P values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: We sent 725 requests and received 265 (36.6%) completed surveys. Overall, we found that nearly 24% of respondents felt “definitely” prepared to respond to a disaster. Pediatric Surgeons who held a leadership position in their institutions disaster response plan were 2.02 times more likely to feel personally prepared (41.7%, P=0.002). Among this group, 33.3% feel their institution is prepared, and 18.8% feel their office is prepared. Among all respondents, only 21.7% (n=56) feel their hospital is prepared, and even fewer (8.7%) feel their office is ready. Of clinicians with a defined disaster response role, 57.9% feel prepared (RR 2.46, P<0.001). Significantly, over half (58.2%) of those who feel their hospital is prepared feel personally prepared. Among those who feel their office is prepared (n=21), 90.5% feel personally prepared. Conclusions: Few pediatric surgeons feel prepared, and most believe their institution is not prepared to respond appropriately to a disaster. Our data suggests that involvement in disaster response planning, as either a leader or a team member, is associated with a higher level of perceived preparedness. Disaster planners should factor pediatric specialists into all phases disaster planning.