Background
Academic medical centers play a major role in disaster response, and residents frequently serve as key resources in these situations. Studies examining health care professionals' willingness to report for duty in mass casualty situations have varying response rates, and studies of emergency medicine (EM) residents' willingness to report for duty in disaster events and factors that affect these responses are lacking.
Objective
We sought to determine EM resident and faculty willingness to report for duty during 4 disaster scenarios (natural, explosive, nuclear, and communicable), to identify factors that affect willingness to work, and to assess opinions regarding disciplinary action for physicians unwilling to work in a disaster situation.
Methods
We surveyed residents and faculty at 7 US teaching institutions with accredited EM residency programs between April and November 2010.
Results
A total of 229 faculty and 259 residents responded (overall response rate, 75.4%). Willingness to report for duty ranged from 54.1% for faculty in a natural disaster to 94.2% for residents in a nonnuclear explosive disaster. The 3 most important factors influencing disaster response were concern for the safety of the family, belief in the physician's duty to provide care, and availability of protective equipment. Faculty and residents recommended minimal or no disciplinary action for individuals unwilling to work, except in the infectious disease scenario.
Conclusions
Most EM residents and faculty indicated they would report for duty. Residents and faculty responses were similar in all but 1 scenario. Disciplinary action for individuals unwilling to work generally was not recommended.
Antifibrinolytic agents for the treatment of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage may decrease rebleeding but appear to increase cerebral ischemia and do not reduce mortality or severe disability.
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