Preparing your practice
There are many things which you can do now to prepare your practice for the possibility of an influenza pandemic. These include:
The Royal Australian College for General Practitioners (RACGP) has developed a
Pandemic Flu Kit (external link) - (the Kit) to assist general practices in preparing for an influenza pandemic. The Kit is designed to support the education and training of practice staff and cover a range of topics including business continuity, infection control, communication, and clinical management. The Kit is aimed at all practice staff and will provide the practice team with the information to develop their own practice plan.
Developing and implementing a plan
All primary health care providers, whether working in general practice or other community settings, should develop a pandemic plan that includes:
- a statement that clearly outlines the role of the service and its staff during a pandemic
- a strategy to ensure effective communication which utilises existing health networks and available infrastructure
- infection control policies and processes for the protection of staff, patients and customers
- contingency arrangements for business continuity
- contingency arrangements for patients and customers with particular needs
- in the case of general practice, a plan for managing suspected and known cases.
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Communications during a pandemic
Clear and accurate information
Primary health care providers will be a vital information point during a pandemic. Patients, customers and staff will need to be informed and educated about what is happening, how best to look after themselves, and where to go for services and further information.
Providers may also play an important role in disseminating information about:
- what symptoms people should be aware of
- home quarantine and support services
- access to antivirals and personal protective equipment
- referral to additional facilities in their particular state or territory.
The consistency of messages and information to the public is very important. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Australian Government will provide regular pandemic updates to the public, along with the Chief Health Officers (or their equivalent) in each state and territory.
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Business continuity planning
The Australian Government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has developed a comprehensive
business continuity guide and kit (external link) to help Australian businesses consider what impact a human influenza pandemic might have on their businesses, and to help businesses take appropriate actions to prepare themselves as best they can.
Dealing with absenteeism
Absenteeism at the peak of a pandemic could be 30 to 50 per cent. This includes absenteeism due to illness; the need to stay at home to care for someone who is ill, or to look after children in the event of school closures, fears about being infected at work as well as due to some people fulfilling other roles in the community (volunteering).
To ensure continuity of service, providers need to consider measures such as:
- rosters that give adequate rest breaks for staff
- multi-tasking and training of staff in alternative roles
- pooling resources with other providers (see below)
- providing clear communication to staff to keep them well informed about how they can reduce the risk to themselves and addressing any fears and concerns.
Planning for threshold capacity and surge demand
State and territory health departments are planning to establish flu clinics in the community or in existing hospitals to help prevent the spread of infection by keeping potentially infectious patients separate from other patients being seen in general practices and hospitals. Flu clinics will also help to ensure that general practices and hospitals do not become overloaded, so that life-saving non-influenza health services can be maintained.
In some jurisdictions, general practice based influenza services will form part of a coordinated jurisdictional approach in areas of need. State and Territory health departments may ask general practices to nominate as influenza services.
General practices should consider at what point their capacity to manage both influenza and non-influenza patients safely reaches its limit, especially given many primary health care facilities are already stretched at the best of times.
The major factors that will determine the threshold capacity of a practice during a pandemic will be:
- the number of staff available to work
- the total number of hours that available staff are willing to work
Primary care facility managers should approach staff to ascertain what workload they are prepared to take on in the event of a pandemic, to guide drawing up pandemic work rosters
- the facility's physical ability to partition off suspected influenza cases from non-influenza patients and staff.
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Enhance existing health networks
Primary health care providers should ensure they have updated the contact details for their state or territory health departments and local public health authorities. Providers (and the professional organisations that represent them) will need to ensure strong links with these agencies.
Depending on their workforce capacity, the state or territory health department and local public health authority will:
- provide up-to-date information on the latest situation regarding a pandemic
- give advice about distribution of antivirals and personal protection equipment for general practice
- undertake tracing of contacts in the early stages of the pandemic
- give advice about what infrastructure is in place in the local area to manage suspected pandemic cases and the capacity of nearby laboratories to perform testing on specimens collected from patients.
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Reducing the risk of exposure for staff and patients
General principles of infection control
It is not possible to predict the exact behaviour of a newly emergent virus.
Providers in any primary care settings should consider how to enhance their existing infection control procedures and provide information to educate patients and customers.
In the practice the following infection control measures will help reduce the risk of transmission for staff and patients:
- regular hand cleaning with either soap or alcohol based hand rub, especially after removal of masks and gowns
- regular cleaning of surfaces especially those frequently touched such as door handles
- good respiratory hygiene including disposing of soiled items appropriately eg tissues
- management of patients so that people who are potentially infectious can be readily identified and segregated to avoid further infection
- keeping a distance of at least one metre from anyone who might be infectious and using barriers (eg screens) where possible
- asking potentially infectious patients to
- wear a surgical mask
- practice good cough etiquette
- clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol rub
- standard and additional precautions (contact, droplet and airborne precautions) according to the level of risk, see the Interim Infection Control Guidelines for Pandemic Influenza in Healthcare and Community Settings.
This information is current for 03 September, 2010
This information was issued on 05 December, 2008
