Pandemic Influenza Plan - Questar III

Section 4: Infection Control
• Promote the use of procedure or surgical masks and spatial separation by persons
with symptoms of influenza.
o Offer and encourage the use of either procedure masks or surgical masks
by symptomatic persons to limit dispersal of respiratory droplets.
o Encourage coughing persons to sit at least 3 feet away from other persons
in common waiting areas.
Patient placement
• Where possible, designate separate waiting areas for patients with symptoms of
pandemic influenza. Place signs indicating the separate waiting areas.
• Place symptomatic patients in an evaluation room as soon as possible to limit
their time in common waiting areas.
X. Specific Infection Control Guidance for Other Ambulatory Settings
A wide variety of ambulatory settings provide chronic (e.g., hemodialysis units) and
episodic (e.g., freestanding surgery centers, dental offices) healthcare services. When
pandemic influenza is in the region, these facilities should implement control measures
similar to those recommended for outpatient physician offices. Other infection control
strategies that may be utilized include:
• Screening patients for influenza-like illness by phone or before coming into the
facility and rescheduling appointments for those whose care is non-emergency.
• Canceling all non-emergency services when there is pandemic influenza in the
community.
XI.
Care of Pandemic Influenza Patients in the Home
Most patients with pandemic influenza will be able to remain at home during the course
of their illness and can be cared for by other family members, or others who live in the
household, provided their home is a suitable location for them during their illness.
Voluntary home confinement by symptomatic persons will limit their contact with
uninfected persons and help slow the spread of influenza. Anyone residing in a
household with an influenza patient during the incubation period and illness is at risk for
developing influenza. A key objective in this setting is to limit transmission of pandemic
influenza within and outside the home.
The decision to remain at home when ill with influenza will best be made in consultation
with the person’s/family’s health care provider. Epidemiologic investigation of pandemic
cases may reveal what characteristics (e.g., age less than 2 or greater than 64 years,
underlying cardiac or respiratory disease, compromised immunity) increase a person’s
risk for severe disease and who will benefit most by receiving medical care (including
antiviral treatment) early in the course of their infection. When a person remains at home,
the appearance of certain conditions (i.e., shortness of breath while resting, difficult or
painful breathing, wheezing, bloody sputum, fever for more than 4 days or a sudden
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