The influence of organizational jurisdiction, organizational attributes, and training measures on perceptions of public health preparedness in Alberta

OBJECTIVES: Recent international events including the H1N1 influenza pandemic and the rising incidence of West Nile Virus throughout North America have brought critical attention to the Canadian public health system and how prepared the system is to respond to various types of contemporary public health threats. The current work assessed the association of organizational jurisdiction, organizational attributes, and training opportunities with three different measures of public health preparedness in the province of Alberta, Canada. METHODS: Organizational representatives involved in the delivery of public health systems completed an online questionnaire that asked about organizational attributes and training opportunities available to employees, their perception of organizational preparedness, and their connections to other organizations in Alberta. RESULTS: Findings revealed that (1) perceived human and material resources preparedness was associated with training opportunities, (2) perceived informational needs was associated with organizational size, and (3) whether an organization exercised their written preparedness plan in 2006 was associated with organizational jurisdiction. CONCLUSIONS: These findings help fill a gap in the literature with respect to identifying how organizational characteristics are associated with different aspects of preparedness. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00038-011-0261-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.