Abstract
The identification and announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a global issue. Disaster preparedness for internal and external threats is inherent within health care environments and requires agile thinking and swift remediation. Nosocomial infection is a risk for recipients of care, especially in hospital settings, which has implications for workforce planning. The aim of this case study was to examine the community response to the internal disaster of the first nosocomial COVID-19 outbreak within an Australian rural health care environment. A critical discourse analysis method was adopted to generate and analyse data collected from three different media platforms during a six-week period. Four main themes were distilled: actions and intent, loss, well-being and recognising choice, and community action. Phase two of the study interrogated these themes to expose the power positioning of speakers and their relationships to the audiences. Strengthening communication with local communities within health care environments must be a priority in any future rural workforce disaster preparedness planning. Maintenance of trust with health service provision and delivery in rural communities is imperative. The inclusion of a robust communication plan within any risk management strategy that meets the needs of the local users of health services is mandatory.
Highlights
Published: 28 July 2021The identification and subsequent announcement of the Coronavirus Disease 2019(associated with the virus SARS-CoV-2), hereafter known as COVID-19, as a pandemic has been a global issue [1,2]
Collaboration of community and health care environments to reduce vulnerabilities that emerge during disasters remains vital
Using the method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this case study highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated external threats as invoking internal disasters that can adversely affect the health and wellbeing of the health care workforce and the local community
Summary
Published: 28 July 2021The identification and subsequent announcement of the Coronavirus Disease 2019(associated with the virus SARS-CoV-2), hereafter known as COVID-19, as a pandemic has been a global issue [1,2]. Preparedness for internal and external disasters is inherent within health care environments, including those in rural areas, and has been widely recognised, in the case study described [3,4,5,6,7]. There is a need for disaster information to be disseminated to the general population and tailored to meet the needs of rural localities, especially when the external threat becomes an internal disaster within the local area [8]. The first nosocomial outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia occurred within a rural health care environment. This outbreak is reported as a case study and uses critical discourse analysis as a method for generating, analysing and interpreting the digital and traditional media data during the internal disaster. The use of critical discourse analysis allowed for the voices of the media
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