Public health workers unprepared for emergencies

Public health workers in north east China are poorly prepared for emergency situations, a study has found.

A survey of 368 public health inspectors from 17 public health areas in Heilongjiang found that most staff believed they had adequate skills and compensation to manage in a crisis. However the study also found that competency and preparedness were lacking. Lack of explicit national job requirements, overlapping responsibilities and poor collaboration among agencies, together with poor knowledge and skills level of personnel, led to an ambiguity of responsibility, and hindered the preparedness competency of public health staff, according to the study in BMJ Open.