Commentary on A Study of Emergency Medical Service Personnel and Law
Enforcement Official Willingness to Respond to Disasters

Erick B Knezek; Thevu Vu; Jim Lee

Abstract

Commentary on A Study of Emergency Medical Service Personnel and Law Enforcement Official Willingness to Respond to Disasters

In every disaster scenario, emergency responders face tremendous uncertainty and risk that would ÅÂÂÃÂnÅ?ÆµÄ?ncÄ? their willingness to respond (WTR). Hence, it is important to gain bÄ?Æ©Ä?r understanding of psychological root causes for emergency responders to abandon their roles and, in turn, to develop bÄ?Æ©Ä?r disaster response strategies. Our recent study has shown that the overall WTR of Louisiana EMS and LEO personnel is 69.9%. In Ä?Ä?Ä?ÅÂÂÃÂÆ?Å½nÍ? emergency responders’ WTR decreased as perceived threat increased. The ÆÂÂÃÂÆ?Ä?Æ?ÆÂÂÃÂÆ?cÄ?Å¯Å¯y ÆÂÂÃÂÅÂÂÃÂÅÂÂÃÂnÅÂÂÃÂÄ®cÄ?nÆ? ÅÂÂÃÂnÅ?ÆµÄ?ncÄ?ÆÂÂÃÂ on WTR were fear of working an unfamiliar role, concern for family, self-safety, feeling well-prepared to respond, duty to colleagues, and increasing the frequency of training.

Author(s):

Erick B Knezek, Thevu Vu*, and Jim Lee

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