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Assessment of Disaster Preparedness at the Household Level in a Pediatric Cardiology Clinic Population

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Abstract

Natural and human-provoked disasters pose serious health risks to children, particularly children and youth with special healthcare needs, including many cardiology patients. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides preparedness recommendations for families, but little is known about recommendation adherence. Caregivers of children seen in a pediatric cardiology clinic network were recruited to complete an electronic survey. Participants self-reported child medical history and their household’s implementation of AAP recommended disaster preparedness items. Families received a link to AAP resources and a child ID card. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with Fisher’s exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. 320 caregivers participated in the study, of whom 124 (38.8%) indicated that their child has a diagnosed cardiac condition, and 150 (46.9%) indicated that their child had special healthcare needs. The average preparedness item completion rate was 70.7% for household preparedness, 40.1% for reunification preparedness, and 26.3% for community preparedness. Households of children with medical needs had similar rates of preparedness compared to overall rates. Of all respondents, 27.8% previously received disaster preparedness resources, 67.7% would like resources on discussing disaster preparedness, and 93.0% intend to talk with their household about disaster preparedness after completing the survey. These results demonstrate a gap between AAP recommendations and household-level disaster preparedness, including patients with cardiac conditions and those with special healthcare needs. Families expressed that they were interested in getting resources for disaster preparedness. Pediatric cardiologists may consider asking about disaster preparedness and providing disaster preparedness resources tailored to the needs of their patients.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Emory University Department of Pediatrics and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Philipsborn is a member of the Region 4 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU), funded (in part) by the cooperative agreement award number 1U61TS000296 from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under an interagency cooperative agreement (DW-75-95877701). Neither EPA nor ATSDR endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in PEHSU publications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Matthew Mosgrove, David Greenky, Glen Iannucci, Rebecca Philipsborn, Amy Bohling, Samantha Steigerwald, Benjamin Herron, Andrew Jergel & Brittany Murray

  2. School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Matthew Mosgrove, David Greenky, Glen Iannucci, Rebecca Philipsborn, Andrew Jergel & Brittany Murray

  3. School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    David Greenky & Brittany Murray

  4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA

    David Greenky & Brittany Murray

  5. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cardiology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Glen Iannucci

  6. Children’s Medical Center, University of Texas Southwestern, 1935 Medical District Dr, Dallas, TX, 75235, USA

    Matthew Mosgrove

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  1. Matthew Mosgrove
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  2. David Greenky
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  3. Glen Iannucci
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  4. Rebecca Philipsborn
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  5. Amy Bohling
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  6. Samantha Steigerwald
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  7. Benjamin Herron
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  8. Andrew Jergel
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  9. Brittany Murray
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Contributions

M.M. wrote the main manuscript text. A.J. created initial tables in results. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Matthew Mosgrove.

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Mosgrove, M., Greenky, D., Iannucci, G. et al. Assessment of Disaster Preparedness at the Household Level in a Pediatric Cardiology Clinic Population. Pediatr Cardiol 45, 840–846 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-024-03445-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-024-03445-5

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