Overcrowded hospitals are discharging acute patients into the community. Nearly one fourth of your staff has called in-some because they are ill themselves, others because they are caring for sick relatives or caught in a child care bind because of emergency school closings. Deliveries of essentials such as gloves and other infection control supplies have been held up as commerce grinds to a halt. To make matters worse, every patient, staffer, and even a few of your neighbors are calling to see if you can offer them a supply of scarce antivirals.
Such a likely scenario of pandemic flu presents a nightmare almost too overwhelming to contemplate. But the home care community must think long and hard about the ramifications of such a pandemic. Only with thorough, intelligent preparations can we fulfill our mission of bringing quality healthcare wherever it is needed. That is why Shelley Ludwick, VNAA Director of Clinical Programs; Emma McMahon, VNAA Education Program Coordinator; and a team of leaders from visiting nurse associations (VNAs) around the country formed The Pandemic Work Group. Out of the collaboration between VNAA staff and these VNA representatives, The VNAA Pandemic Influenza Preparation: A Resource Guide for Homecare Agencies was developed.
The Guide is an extensive toolkit that home care agencies can use to formulate plans customized to their own communities. The tool is free to member agencies through the VNAA Web site and available to nonmember agencies for a fee. It breaks preparation down into 3 key areas: education, storage and acquisition of supplies, and internal management and policy development.
"No one has all the answers," says McMahon. "But the Guide can make every home care agency aware of the questions it needs to ask in order to be prepared. We have compiled a tremendous number of resources, looking everywhere from the Centers for Disease Control to Lysol, a sponsor of the project. A lot of work needs to be done by every agency, but every agency does not have to reinvent the wheel to do it."
One of the most important ways VNAs must prepare is by developing effective educational programs for their community and staff long before an outbreak. Research has shown that when individuals are informed of an impending emergency, they collectively feel more in control and empowered to protect themselves and their families. Thus, panic is prevented. In discussing pandemic influenza with staff or the public, it is important to begin with basic information, such as what pandemic influenza means and how it will affect them and their daily routines.
The VNAA Pandemic Influenza Preparation Resource Guide offers clear, concise language that will help home care agencies provide their communities and their staff with information. The tool also looks at such varied issues as infection control, emergency funding, supply storage, prioritizing of patients, and development of a policy on staff illness and return to work. There are numerous considerations. Unfortunately, many of them involve major logistical challenges for agencies.
"A pandemic flu would place unprecedented stress on the healthcare delivery system," says Ludwick, "but I am convinced that VNAs will rise to the challenge. They always do."