Maximizing the Resilience of Healthcare Workers in Multi-hazard Events: Lessons from the 2014–2015 Ebola Response in Africa

Abstract

There is increasing knowledge that health care workers (HCWs) can experience a variety of emotional impacts when responding to disasters and terrorism events. The Anticipate, Plan and Deter (APD) Responder Risk and Resilience Model was developed to provide a new, evidence-informed method for understanding and managing psychological impacts among HCWs. APD includes pre-deployment development of an individualized resilience plan and an in-theater, real-time self-triage system, which together allow HCWs to assess and manage the full range of psychological risk and resilience for themselves and their families. The inclusion of objective mental health risk factors to prompt activation of a coping plan, in connection with unit leadership real-time situational awareness, enables the first known evidence-driven “targeted action” plan to address responder risk early before Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and impairment become established. This paper describes pilot work using the self-triage system component in Alameda County’s Urban Shield and the Philippines’ Typhoon Haiyan, and then reports a case example of the full APD model implementation in West Africa’s Ebola epidemic.

Les professionnels de santé face à la pandémie de la maladie à coronavirus (COVID-19) : quels risques pour leur santé mentale ?

“…Le modèle Anticiper, Planifier, Dissuader (APD) est un entraînement des soignants à la résistance au stress (40). Pour Anticiper, les soignants reçoivent une information sur l'impact d'une crise : nature, effets des traumatismes.…”

“…Pour Dissuader un impact délétère, ils apprennent quand utiliser le plan personnel. Par exemple, durant l'épidémie Ebola les personnels préalablement formés n'avaient pas développé de TSPT cliniquement significatif (40).…”

Impact of viral epidemic outbreaks on mental health of healthcare workers: a rapid systematic review

“…Another study described a multifaceted intervention to improve resilience and prevent PTSD in HCWs during the Ebola epidemic in the USA, Philippines, and West Africa. 70 The intervention, based on the Anticipate, Plan and Deter Responder Risk and Resilience model, included pre-deployment development of an individualized resilience plan and an in-theatre, real-time self-triage system, to allow HCWs to assess and manage the full range of psychological risk and resilience for themselves and their families. The potential effectiveness of this intervention was not studied.…”

Recommended psychological crisis intervention response to the 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in China: a model of West China Hospital

“…5) is an effective method for understanding and managing psychological impacts among medical staffs, including managing the full risk and resilience in the responder "hazard specific" stress. 15 In the APD process, medical staffs receive a pre-event stress training focusing on the psychosocial impact of high-casualty events on the hospital and field disaster settings. During the training, participants are given the chance to develop a "personal resilience plan", which involves identifying and anticipating response challenges.…”