Public Health Professionals' Risk Perceptions and Training Needs Related to Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections: Results of a National Needs Assessment Survey

Introduction: An intentional release of a biological agent by terrorists or a naturally occurring outbreak of an emerging infection may pose a momentous challenge to the US public health infrastructure. The rapid identification and management of these outbreaks will require highly trained public health professionals (PHPs). A needs assessment survey was developed to evaluate PHP educational priorities for bioterrorism and emerging infections as well as the best medium to deliver these materials.

Methods: A comprehensive listing of health departments was obtained from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). Surveys were sent to public health departments throughout the US (N=3,811) as follows: One survey each to 2,926 local health departments, four surveys each (n=600) to health departments located in the 120 cities that received initial funding for training under the 1997 Nunn-Lugar-Domenici legislation, and five surveys each (n=285) to State Epidemiologists. The mailings of multiple surveys to the "120 cities" and State Epidemiologists included a request to distribute the additional surveys among other health department PHPs. Each respondent completed a 35-question needs assessment to determine their perception of the risk for bioterrorism and emerging infections, the likelihood that current surveillance methods could identify the incident, the likelihood that a PHP would seek out training on these topics, preferred delivery method, format for training and quick reference materials, and participants' access to various technologies.

Results: As of January 2001, the return rate was 33.3% (n=1254). We plan to present the resulting analysis of the collected needs assessment data.