RAPID: Collaborative Research: Ebola-related Information Obtained by Healthcare Providers: Effects of Formal and Informal Communication Channels and Organizational Structure

埃博拉病毒从非洲传播到美国引起了公众和医疗保健提供者的广泛关注（例如，护士）。医疗保健提供者需要各种各样的信息，以保护自己和公众。然而，他们可能或可能无法从雇主那里获得这些信息。在关键和时间敏感的情况下，他们可以从其他来源获得信息，以补充雇主提供的信息。本研究旨在探讨医疗服务提供者所需资讯类型的动态变化，以及其与组织网络与组织结构特征的关系。本研究是基于社会网络和组织结构的文献。它还建立在主要研究者以前在健康信息需求（HIW）概念，框架和问卷方面的富有成效的合作基础上，该概念强调自下而上的方法来理解个人所需的广泛健康信息的类型和数量。这项研究可以通过研究它们对各种医疗机构中的医疗服务提供者在时间敏感的情况下（如当前的埃博拉危机）的影响，来增进对社会网络和组织结构的了解。它还可以通过检查其在医疗保健组织中的使用来推进HIW框架。它将这两个先前分离的文献机构联系在一起，并创造了关于医疗保健提供者想要和获得的信息的新知识，以及它们与社交网络和组织结构的关系。研究结果可以帮助开发信息，教育干预措施，以有效和高效地提供不同组织的医疗保健提供者在未来埃博拉样紧急情况下需要的正确类型和数量的信息。这些发现可能会改善医疗保健提供者和他们在发生类似危机时所照顾的患者的健康和福祉。

The spread of Ebola from Africa to the United States has received much attention among the general public and healthcare providers (e.g., nurses). Healthcare providers need a diverse range of information in order to protect themselves and the public. However, they may, or may not, be able to obtain such information from their employers. In critical and time sensitive situations, they may obtain information from other sources to complement employer-provided information. This research aims to study the dynamics on the types of information healthcare providers wanted and obtained and their relationships with organizational network and structural characteristics. This research is grounded in the literature on social network and organizational structure. It also builds on the principal investigators' previous productive collaboration on the health information wants (HIW) concept, framework, and questionnaire, which emphasizes a bottom-up approach to understanding the types and amount of a broad range of health information wanted by individuals. This study can advance knowledge about social network and organizational structure by examining their effects on healthcare providers in various healthcare organizations in time sensitive situations like the current Ebola crisis. It can also advance the HIW framework by examining its use in the context of healthcare organizations. It bridges together these two previously separated bodies of literature and creates new knowledge about the information healthcare providers wanted and obtained, as well as their relationships with social network and organizational structure. Study findings can help develop informational, educational interventions to effectively and efficiently provide the right types and amount of information healthcare providers in different organizations want in Ebola-like emergencies in the future. The findings may lead to improved health and well-being of healthcare providers and the patients they care for when similar crises occur.