I thought with flu season ahead of us in the northern half of the hemisphere it might be a good time for people to share what they learned from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.\u00a0 Perhaps share what they thought worked well in their plans, and also what they have changed.\u00a0 Not to constrain discussion but offer some areas to look at below you will find some key topics:<\/p>\n
Layered Surveillance Is Critical to an Effective Pandemic Response \u2013 I am curious what triggered you to go to a more active surveillance versus passive and at what point did the over-whelming number of cases make it an academic exercise.<\/p>\n
Development of Guidance for Clinical Management and Antiviral Drug Use Is an Iterative Process \u2013 What triggers did you use and how long did it take for you to begin to aggressively use the antivirals most states were stockpiling?\u00a0 How could you speed up the process?<\/p>\n
Laboratory Services Can Become Overburdened \u2013 What triggers did you use to move to a presumptive diagnosis of H1N1 versus laboratory confirmation or did you?<\/p>\n
Enhanced Infection Control and Surge Capacity Is Needed for Intensive Care Services \u2013 Did you hospital policies change on mandatory influenza vaccinations or use of enhanced PPE with Influenza like Illness (ILI)?<\/p>\n
Application and Monitoring of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions Must Be Consistent \u2013 What triggers did you use when you implemented social distancing mitigation measures, were they timely and was the benefit (prevent illness in the community as a whole) worth the social and economic disruption?<\/p>\n
Availability and Uptake of Pandemic Vaccine Must Be Timely \u2013 How did you handle the pandemic strain vaccine and seasonal strain vaccine programs given the predictable delays in obtaining a pandemic vaccine and determination of priority groups?<\/p>\n
Risk Communication Requires Active Coordination and Monitoring \u2013 Did you find communication messages between the business community to be consistent with emergency management and public health?\u00a0 What triggers were used?<\/p>\n
Needs of Displaced Persons\/Migrants Must Be Included in Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plans \u2013 Were social services and healthcare systems able to address this population adequately?<\/p>\n
External Evaluation of Response Efforts after a Pandemic Peak Is Useful \u2013 Did you seek outside assistance when looking for lessons learned to obtain an unbiased view of areas to improve?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t feel constrained to the points above, please share where ever you feel we can do better. \u00a0I am especially interested in what those in the business community have to say.<\/p>\n
One suggestion I have is to rename all the \u201cpandemic\u201d plans as \u201cinfluenza\u201d plans and implement mitigation strategies every year to decrease morbidity and mortality from this preventable disease.\u00a0 Saving a pandemic plan for \u201cthe big one\u201d is akin to only putting on your seatbelt when you know you\u2019ll be in a big crash.\u00a0 Exercising a plan against a real world event annually builds muscle memory and helps the public learn simple prevention measures which will work just as well during seasonal influenza as a pandemic strain. I look forward to your comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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