Alberta family physicians’ willingness to work during an influenza pandemic: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE Effective pandemic responses rely on frontline healthcare workers continuing to work despite increased risk to themselves. Our objective was to investigate Alberta family physicians willingness to work during an influenza pandemic. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Alberta prior to the fall wave of the H1N1 epidemic. PARTICIPANTS 192 participants from a random sample of 1000 Alberta family physicians stratified by region. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Willingness to work through difficult scenarios created by an influenza epidemic. RESULTS The corrected response rate was 22%. The most physicians who responded were willing to continue working through some scenarios caused by a pandemic, but in other circumstances less than 50% would continue. Men were more willing to continue working than women. In some situations South African and British trained physicians were more willing to continue working than other groups. CONCLUSIONS Although many physicians intend to maintain their practices in the event of a pandemic, in some circumstances fewer are willing to work. Pandemic preparation requires ensuring a workforce is available. Healthcare systems must provide frontline healthcare workers with the support and resources they need to enable them to continue providing care.