Perspectives on Counseling Women of Reproductive Age About Emergency Preparedness by Primary Health Care Providers: DocStyles, United States, 2021 [ID: 1364512]

INTRODUCTION: Pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women (PPLW) face unique challenges during disasters that may be mitigated by emergency preparedness. Health care providers have opportunities to counsel this population on emergency preparedness, but the extent of counseling has not been reported. Our objective is to report health care provider attitudes and practices related to counseling women of reproductive age (WRA), including PPLW, on emergency preparedness. METHODS: DocStyles, a web-based panel survey of a convenience sample of primary health care providers in the United States, was conducted from March 17 to May 17, 2021. Family practitioners, internists, obstetrician–gynecologists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants were asked about importance of emergency preparedness counseling, confidence level of counseling, frequency of counseling, barriers to providing counseling, and preferred resources to support counseling among their WRA and PPLW patients. We calculated frequencies of provider attitudes and practices using R, version 4.0.3. RESULTS: Among 1,503 respondents, family practitioners (33%), internists (34%), obstetrician–gynecologists (17%), nurse practitioners (8%), and physician assistants (8%), 88% thought that emergency preparedness for keeping reproductive-aged patients safe, and counseling patients of reproductive age about emergency preparedness were both important. However, 45% of respondents were not confident in WRA emergency preparedness counseling, and most (70%) had never talked to PPLW about this topic. Respondents cited not having time during clinical visits (48%) and lack of preparedness knowledge (34%) as barriers. Most respondents (79%) stated they would use educational materials, especially fact sheets or brochures and patient text alerts. CONCLUSION: Emergency preparedness resources combined with training may improve health care provider confidence in counseling WRA and PPLW.