Pandemic Influenza Plan - Questar III

Section 3: Healthcare Planning and Emergency Response
triage to reduce risk of disease transmission; and 3) determine whether hospitalization is
required. Hospitals should plan to assign a triage coordinator to manage patient flow.
The adherence to proper infection control standards must also be reinforced.
Hospitals should also develop plans to enhance their capacity to triage by working with
their LHD and local OEM to identify volunteer resources and to establish additional
triage sites. These can be on-campus (e.g., additional outpatient clinics, temporary
shelters) or off-campus at extension clinic sites.
The success of a hospital’s efforts to divert triage away from its ED to other sites will be
dependant upon the effective use of public service announcements that explain the
rationale to the community.
G. Hospital Surge Capacity
Hospitals have been required to develop a Bed Surge Annex to their Comprehensive
Emergency Plan. The Bed Surge Annex should be reviewed and updated at least
annually to ensure that it reflects all appropriate strategies to successfully expand their
existing bed capacity.
1. Surge capacity
• Pandemic influenza will create demands for healthcare resources that greatly
exceed normal capacity. Healthcare facilities must plan ahead to address
emergency staffing needs and increased demand for isolation, ICUs, assisted
ventilation services and consumable and durable medical supplies.
• Hospital planners can use FluSurge software
(http://www.cdc.gov/flu/flusurge.htm) to estimate the potential impact of a
pandemic on resources such as staffed beds (both overall and ICU) and ventilators
and then develop strategies to allocate these resources.
• In the event of a massive pandemic where there are not enough human or material
assets (e.g., nursing, ventilators, nutrition, hydration) available to meet patient
needs, decisions to alter the standard of care will need to be made in an effort to
provide the best possible outcome to the greatest number of patients. The
NYSDOH is convening a panel of experts to discuss and provide guidance on
altered standards of care.
• Recommendations to the OEM pertaining to re-allocation of resources will be
made on the basis of information derived from HERDS. Accurate completion of
HERDS surveys by hospitals is critical to this effort.
2. Staffing
A major concern during an influenza pandemic is will be the shortage of nurses and
other healthcare personnel. This lack of healthcare personnel will limit the ability of
a hospital to handle increased surge capacity.
The facility should develop an educational package directed toward staff and families
that focuses on the nature of the disease, its mode of transmission and proper
February 7, 2006 3-10