Abstract
BackgroundSeveral emergent circumstances require healthcare providers to recognize the unusual and dangerous and pathogenic agents. An in-depth literature review showed that studies about bioterrorism preparedness amongst healthcare providers are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge and preparedness level of first emergency respondents towards bioterrorism events.MethodsThis study has a cross-sectional design and was carried out at the Emergency departments and poison control centers/clinical laboratories three in major tertiary care hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The subjects were randomly selected to complete the self-administered questionnaire to collect study outcomes.ResultsA total of 1030 participants were included in the final data analysis. The mean knowledge score in the basic concepts of bioterrorism and introductory clinical presentations of bioterrorism-related agents was 4.92 ± 1.86 out of 12 points.Moreover, the findings showed a mean knowledge score of 22.80 ± 3.92 out of 38 in the bioterrorism preparedness and governing policies and procedures. Respondents who received previous training in bioterrorism preparedness had a significantly higher number of perceived benefits than those not sure and without prior training (z = − 2.67, p = 0.008) and (z = − 4.4, p < 0.0001), respectively. About 79.4% of participants did not have previous training in bioterrorism preparedness, but 68.7% expressed willingness in the institution’s response and control to assist in a bioterrorist attack incident.ConclusionAlthough healthcare professionals have reported their desire to help in bioterrorism events, they need to enhance their knowledge of bioterrorism preparedness.
Highlights
Several emergent circumstances require healthcare providers to recognize the unusual and dangerous and pathogenic agents
The symptoms of clinical presentations of the different illnesses caused by the diverse bioterrorism agents are often very nonspecific and very difficult to differentiate many diseases
All poison control center/clinical laboratory staff involved in dealing with bioterrorism events and emergency department (ED) healthcare providers, including physicians, nurses, paramedic/emergency medical services (EMD) team with at least one year of clinical experience, were eligible for recruitment into the study
Summary
Several emergent circumstances require healthcare providers to recognize the unusual and dangerous and pathogenic agents. The symptoms of clinical presentations of the different illnesses caused by the diverse bioterrorism agents are often very nonspecific and very difficult to differentiate many diseases. Hospital and clinical laboratories play crucial roles in responding to bioterrorism agent infections and emergent exposures diseases. Emergency departments, are the first to receive patients showing specific symptoms, and initially, the illness may present as an unusual disease. Laboratories will be the first to obtain clinical specimens from patients exposed to bioterrorism agents or infectious diseases. Their rapid identification of these suspected agents and infectious diseases is essential for the prompt recognition and implementation of appropriate responses [1]
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