Emergency Management Information System Support Rectifying First Responder Role Abandonment During Extreme Events

Abstract

Role abandonment once was considered unlikely by research scientists; however emergency management officials have experienced catastrophic events that counter prior assumptions. Event types such as deluges and pandemics surface as scenarios supporting one set of examples. The authors explore a different angle, focusing on individual practitioners including: (1) fire, (2) police and (3) emergency medical services. Surveys were taken by the various practitioner group types. Results suggested that there may be role abandonment issues, differing from one practitioner type to another, each with unique reasons given the event type. Although communities and individual emergency officials may never encounter such situations, it's imperative that this event type be taken into account during the design and implementation of disaster management systems. Systems developed should be designed to support and modify needs given the size and magnitude of the event, be it a routine emergency, a larger disaster or a 'once in a lifetime' catastrophic event. In this case, the authors focus on human resources. It is for this reason that the authors believe that algorithms be identified, developed and implemented so that such information be accessible to emergency officials, should this rare situation arise.

A study of emergency medical service personnel and law enforcement official willingness to respond to disasters

“…Despite Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans Police Department being a significant example of role abandonment, little WTR research has been conducted upon law enforcement's role. In a literature review on WTR spanning from 1952 to the present, only one perception study was identified that included LEO WTR (Noble et al, 2014). Five were identified that specifically included EMS personnel WTR since 2005 (Barnett et al, 2010;Charney, Rebmann et al, 2015;DiGiovanni et al, 2003;DiMaggio et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2020).…”

“…In a literature review on WTR spanning from 1952 to the present, only one perception study was identified that included LEO WTR (Noble et al, 2014). Five were identified that specifically included EMS personnel WTR since 2005 (Barnett et al, 2010;Charney, Rebmann et al, 2015;DiGiovanni et al, 2003;DiMaggio et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2020). Only one study was found comparing EMS personnel and LEO WTR from the same location (Noble et al, 2014).…”

“…Five were identified that specifically included EMS personnel WTR since 2005 (Barnett et al, 2010;Charney, Rebmann et al, 2015;DiGiovanni et al, 2003;DiMaggio et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2020). Only one study was found comparing EMS personnel and LEO WTR from the same location (Noble et al, 2014). Highlights of the results of prior WTR perception study research on EMS personnel and LEO are shown in Table 1.…”

“…Indeed, EMS personnel who fear for their own safety in terms of infection, injury, or even death are less likely to attend work during a disaster. Several studies also found barriers for EMS personnel to be a concern for family safety, particularly their perceived ability to communicate with family members, especially during periods of extended shifts or events that keep them away from home (DiMaggio et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2020). The second significant barrier to WTR is the lack of training related to specific events.…”

“…EMTs who received continuing medical education training related to terrorism within the last 2 years were twice as likely to respond than those who had not received the training (DiMaggio et al, 2005). Better training, more frequent training, and cross-training for different emergency roles also correlate with an increasing WTR (Noble et al, 2014). Similar to the lack of training, the third significant barrier is a lack of specialized PPE or equipment, particularly during subsequent terrorist and bioterrorism events.…”