Medical Environment Update—Preparing your outpatient facility for a pandemic
Hospitals may be the focus for a serious pandemic worries, but a mild virus could flood outpatient facilities, reports the September issue of Medical Environment Update.
Here is an excerpt from that article and a look at what else is covered in September issue.
Each year, medical facilities around the country use the months leading up to annual flu season to prepare for the possibility of an influenza pandemic.
But never before have these preparations been so real and urgent. Technically, the world is in the midst of a pandemic, as declared by the World Health Organization, but the threat of a severe pandemic that would flood the nation’s healthcare system has rarely been so imminent.
Unfortunately, many medical facilities are finding that it’s difficult to prepare for something that is so unpredictable and that even medical experts know so little about. Although the influenza A H1N1 outbreaks in the spring were relatively mild, there is no guarantee the same virus, coupled with seasonal flu, won’t come back with more serious consequences.
From the perspective of an outpatient facility, a mild case of H1N1 this winter could actually mean a strong surge for outpatient facilities and physician offices, says Paul Biddinger, MD, medical director for emergency preparedness and emergency physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Committee on Preparedness.
“I think the biggest unknown is not even so much how people will react, but how the virus is going to unfold,” Biddinger says. “In previous pandemics, there has been a second wave with significant illness. Sometimes that illness has been more mild; sometimes it has been more severe, like 1918. If the second wave of H1N1 causes mostly mild illness, I think outpatient providers will feel the brunt of the surge of patients. If the virus causes more severe illness, it may be more in the emergency department and in the hospital setting.”
Regardless of severity, outpatient facilities should prepare, just as hospitals do, for a surge of patients, a potential shortage of employees, and ways to reduce transmission of the disease within the facility.
The Medical Environment Update article covers keeping your facility operational, planning for a surge of patients, screening for illnesses at the door, and personal protective equipment for staff members.
The September issue also includes:
- A report on frequent and most expensive bloodborne pathogens violations in physician practices
- News on the OSHA director nomination and the possibility of a federal standard for aerosol transmissible diseases
- Quick self-inspection checklist on the basics of vaccine storage and handling
- Ask the expert Q&As on PAPRs and reuse and whether OSHA would fine a business in the event of a terrorist attack
- A quiz to test your understanding of OSHA standards and government regulatory guidelines applying to healthcare facilities covered in this issue
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Medical Environment Update
Medical Environment Update is an eight-page monthly newsletter designed to help busy healthcare professionals who don't have time to look through regulatory journals for compliance requirements and information.
MEU has written 21 posts.
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