Pandemic-related ability and willingness in home healthcare workers.

Objective: To assess pandemic-related attitudes and behavioral intentions of home healthcare workers (HHCWs).

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: New York City.

Web-based training on weapons of mass destruction response for emergency medical services personnel.

Objective: To develop, implement, and assess a web-based simulation training program for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel on recognition and treatment of ocular injuries resulting from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks.

Design: The training program consisted of six modules: WMD knowledge and event detection, ocular anatomy, ocular first aid (ie, flushing, cupping, and patching), and three WMD simulations (ie, sarin gas release, anthrax release, and radioactive dispersal device). Pretest, post-test, and 1-month follow-up test and a program evaluation were used to measure knowledge gain and retention and to assess the effectiveness of the program.

Violence, job satisfaction, and employment intentions among home healthcare registered nurses.

Workplace violence, defined as violent acts directed toward workers, includes physical assault, threat of assault, and verbal abuse and is widely recognized as a threat to workers' health and safety. Healthcare workers, especially nurses, are known to be at high risk. As employees who work alone, have access to drugs, provide care to people in distress, and/or have frequent close contact with clients, they face a greater likelihood of exposure to violence.

The prevalence and risk factors for percutaneous injuries in registered nurses in the home health care sector.

Background: Patients continue to enter home health care (HHC) "sicker and quicker," often with complex health problems that require extensive intervention. This higher level of acuity may increase the risk of percutaneous injury (PI), yet information on the risk and risk factors for PI and other types of exposures in this setting is exceptionally sparse. To address this gap, a large cross-sectional study of self-reported exposures in HHC registered nurses (RNs) was conducted.

Safety factors predictive of job satisfaction and job retention among home healthcare aides.

Objectives: Although many of the well known work characteristics associated with job satisfaction in home health care have been documented, a unique aspect of the home health care aides' (HHA) work environment that might also affect job satisfaction is the fact that their workplace is a household. To obtain a better understanding of the potential impact of the risks/exposures/hazards within the household environment on job satisfaction and job retention in home care, we recently conducted a risk assessment study.

Methods: Survey data from a convenience sample of 823 New York City HHAs were obtained and analyzed.

Participatory action research methodology in disaster research: results from the World Trade Center evacuation study.

Objective: Participatory action research (PAR) methodology is an effective tool in identifying and implementing risk-reduction interventions. It has been used extensively in occupational health research, but not, to our knowledge, in disaster research. A PAR framework was incorporated into the World Trade Center evacuation study, which was designed to identify the individual, organizational, and structural (environmental) factors that affected evacuation from the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 on September 11, 2001.