Disaster Care Provider Workforce Assessment

The authors conducted a workforce assessment of 398 patient care providers in South and North Carolina to determine their emergency preparedness training needs and preferences. They found that providers felt better prepared than 10 years prior, but still desired additional training. Primary obstacles to training were found to be time and financial constraints, and that most employers do not require it. Survey responses suggest that developing short (<1 day) courses that combine performance assessments with a scenario-based environment could be valuable for increasing preparedness.