Public Health
Healthcare ideas, policies, cases and best practices
Healthcare Quarterly, in association with Longwoods™ Publishing, brings you this microsite to highlight important topics facing healthcare leaders today. Periodically, this site will feature new content from Healthcare Quarterly, Longwoods.com, and other editor-selected information sources. All content on this page is presented free of charge.
The Information Management Strategy Cascade: Strategy-Based Performance Management of a Flu Recall Practice (PDF)
Juliana Jackson, Karen Born, Jamie Read and Adalsteinn Brown
This paper reviews how an IM strategy framework was applied in a health service provider setting to support linking flu recall practice data to broader organizational strategy and accountability at the Sherbourne Health Centre in Toronto
ICES Reports: What to Do to Beat the Flu? Improving Influenza Vaccination Rates among Healthcare Workers (PDF)
Doug Manuel
It is influenza season again, and many healthcare facilities are struggling to improve vaccination rates among their staff. Influenza vaccination rates for healthcare workers remain low in many healthcare facilities - despite the best efforts of the facilities, as well as an increased risk of infection among healthcare workers compared to the general population and the potential to transmit influenza to patients that could lead to serious consequences.
Development of a Critical Care Triage Protocol for Pandemic Influenza: Integrating Ethics, Evidence and Effectiveness (PDF)
Andrea Frolic, Anna Kata and Peter Kraus
In 2005, MOHLTC asked healthcare organizations to develop a local pandemic plan aligned with the Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic (OHPIP). Based on standard modelling (a 35% attack rate), the OHPIP estimates that at the peak of the pandemic, influenza patients will require 170% of available intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 117% of ventilators in Ontario (MOHLTC 2008).
What's the Plan? The Unique Challenges Facing the Home and Community Care Sector in Preparing for a Pandemic (PDF)
Judith Shamian, Teresa Petch, Freya Lilius, Esther Shainblum, Rita Talosi
Recent experience with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Canada and the global threat of the H5N1 virus (avian "flu") have increased the appetite for and urgency of pandemic planning as a policy issue. The healthcare setting is one of the most important areas to prepare for such an event, and it is crucial that discussions around doing so include all settings in which care is delivered.
White Papers and Case Studies
WHO recommendations for the post-pandemic period
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 23
10 AUGUST 2010 | GENEVA -- The world is now in the post-pandemic period. Based on knowledge about past pandemics, the H1N1 (2009) virus is expected to continue to circulate as a seasonal virus for some years to come. While the level of concern is now greatly diminished, vigilance on the part of national health authorities remains important. Such vigilance is especially critical in the immediate post-pandemic period, when the behaviour of the H1N1 (2009) virus as a seasonal virus cannot be reliably predicted. More information.
Surveillance recommendations for Member States in the post-pandemic period
Geneva, 12 August 2010
The purpose of surveillance in the post/pandemic period is to provide information that will enable timely epidemic or pandemic detection, inform health policy decisions and influenza management strategies, and guide influenza vaccine development and prioritization.
Four key surveillance objectives include:
- early detection of unusual events that might indicate a shift in the severity or pattern of disease associated with influenza, or emergence of a new virus;
- establish and monitor baseline rates of severe respiratory disease, including monitoring the severity, disease burden, and impact of influenza;
- describe and monitor vulnerable groups at highest risk of severe disease;
- detection of antigenic or genetic changes in circulating viruses or the appearance of antiviral resistance.
WHO drug information provides an overview of topics of current relevance relating to drug development and regulation. Latest lists of proposed and recommended International Nonproprietary Names for Pharmaceutical Substances (INN) are also included. More information.
The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion is taking part in the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) – Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Influenza Research Network (PCIRN), a pan-Canadian vaccine research network that conducts applied public health research in preparation for and during influenza pandemics. More Information.
Pandemic Influenza Exercise for the Health and Emergency Social Services Sectors(PDF)
Called for by many experts post-SARS, Ontario’s newly created Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Agency) is a cornerstone of the Ontario Governments intricate and bold plan for public health renewal.
CDC: Guidance for Businesses and Employers To Plan and Respond to the 2009 – 2010 Influenza Season (PDF)
August 19, 2009
WHO Disclaimer:
WHO publications and documents - in multiple languages - are available for free download from the WHO Library database. Printed copies can be ordered from the WHO Bookshop, which offers discounts on orders from developing countries. The Bookshop also offers priced subscriptions to periodicals, book series and thematic packages.
Is Your Organization Prepared for a Pandemic?
To view 32 pandemic preparedness plans click here.
Media
Breakfast with the Chiefs: Pandemic Preparedness