Healthcare Workers' Resilience Toolkit for Disaster Management and Climate Change Adaptation

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Ali, Heba Mohtady
Ranse, Jamie
Roiko, Anne
Desha, Cheryl
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2022
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Abstract

Climate change has been recognised as a multiplier of risk factors affecting public health. Disruptions caused by natural disasters and other climate-driven impacts are placing increasing demands on healthcare systems. These, in turn, impact the wellness and performance of healthcare workers (HCWs) and hinder the accessibility, functionality and safety of healthcare systems. This study explored factors influencing HCWs’ disaster management capabilities with the aim of improving their resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen HCWs who dealt with disasters within two hospitals in Queensland, Australia. Analysis of the results identified two significant themes, HCWs’ disaster education and HCWs’ wellness and needs. The latter comprised five subthemes: HCWs’ fear and vulnerability, doubts and uncertainty, competing priorities, resilience and adaptation, and needs assessment. This study developed an ‘HCWs Resilience Toolkit’, which encourages mindfulness amongst leaders, managers and policymakers about supporting four priority HCWs’ needs: ‘Wellness’, ‘Education’, ‘Resources’ and ‘Communication’. The authors focused on the ‘Education’ component to detail recommended training for each of the pre-disaster, mid-disaster and post-disaster phases. The authors conclude the significance of the toolkit, which provides a timely contribution to the healthcare sector amidst ongoing adversity.

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International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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19

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19

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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Health services and systems

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Environmental Sciences

Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

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Ali, HM; Ranse, J; Roiko, A; Desha, C, Healthcare Workers' Resilience Toolkit for Disaster Management and Climate Change Adaptation, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19 (19), pp. 12440

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