Hospital Planning
Healthcare providers will play a crucial role during a pandemic. Planning for pandemic influenza is key. The following checklists, toolkit, and guidelines will assist healthcare providers and service organizations in planning for a pandemic outbreak.
Planning Checklists
- CDC 2009 H1N1 Vaccination Campaign Planning Checklist
The checklist outlines the main 2009 influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine (2009 H1N1 vaccine) planning actions. Within each state, the checklist should be tailored to distinguish between state and local responsibilities. - Home Health Care Services Checklist [PDF - 201KB] [En Español (PDF) (295KB)]
This checklist identifies specific steps that home health care service providers can take now to prepare for a pandemic.
Specific steps are outlined in this checklist that medical offices and clinics, including outpatient care clinics, can take prepare for a pandemic.
EMS and medical transport organizations can use this checklist to help prepare for a pandemic.
Checklist for hospitals to help prepare for a pandemic.
The checklist identifies key areas: a structure for planning and decision making, and a written plan with subplans.
Planning is organized according to business-related, employee-related, and communications-related activities.
Pandemic Influenza Toolkit
- Pandemic Influenza Toolkit
Prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the toolkit provides resources and information for clinicians to use in discussing pandemic influenza with patients and providing care in case of a flu pandemic in the United States.
General and H5N1 Guidelines
- Home Care Guidance: Physician Directions to Patient/Parent
CDC guidance document that provides physician directions to patient/ parent for Novel H1N1 Influenza. - Interim Guidance for Cleaning Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Transport Vehicles during an Influenza Pandemic
This document contains general guidelines for cleaning or maintaining EMS Transport Vehicles after transporting a suspected influenza patient during a pandemic. - Home Health Care during an Influenza Pandemic: Issues and Resources (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
Report from an expert panel that reviewed work currently being done in home health care planning and preparedness and explored the key issues and challenges of providing home health care services during an influenza pandemic. Of special interest to home health care agencies, and State and local pandemic influenza planners. - Interim Guidance on Environmental Management of Pandemic Influenza Virus
CDC guidance on hygiene and use of disinfectants on environmental surfaces (countertops, laundry) in the home and in health-care facilities. 
CDC guidelines on actions, designed primarily to reduce contact between people, that community government and health officials can take to try to limit the spread of infection should a pandemic flu develop.- Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Guidance for Healthcare Workers and Healthcare Employers (PDF - 405 KB) (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
- Clinical Management of Human Infections with Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus (World Health Organization)
This August 2007 document replaces the WHO interim guidelines on clinical management of humans infected by influenza A (H5N1), published in March 2004. - Summary of the Second WHO Consultation on Clinical Aspects of Human Infection with Avian Influenza (H5N1) Virus (PDF - 45.7 KB) (World Health Organization)
Read how clinicians, epidemiologists, and other public health specialists around the world are working together to share medical information concerning human cases of H5N1. - WHO Guidelines for Investigation of Human Cases of Avian Influenza A(H5N1) (World Health Organization)
The Guidelines provide a framework and approach for public health authorities and investigators at all levels, to plan for and conduct investigations of human cases of A(H5N1) (or other avian influenza viruses of pandemic potential). The document focuses on the key steps that should be undertaken in an investigation. - Interim Guidance on Planning for the Use of Surgical Masks and Respirators in Health Care Settings during an Influenza Pandemic
Provides background information on influenza transmission, pathogenesis, and control. Gives recommendations on kinds of mask and respirators, as well as their proper use. - WHO Interim Infection Control Guideline for Health Care Facilities (PDF - 521 KB) (World Health Organization)
The WHO has provided infection control guidance for health care workers in health care facilities who evaluate or provide care for patients with suspected or confirmed avian influenza infection, including H5N1. - Pandemic Flu Planning Guidance for MRC Units (Medical Reserve Corps)
Read about the Pandemic Influenza Planning Guidance for Medical Reserve Corps Units that will be used to identify specific activities MRC units can do now to prepare for a Pandemic.
General and H5N1 Planning Guides
- Providing Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources: A Community Planning Guide (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
For State, local, community, and facility planners, this guide discusses ethical and legal issues, and considerations regarding prehospital care, hospital/acute care, palliative care, and alternative care sites. Chapter 8 is a 29-page case study for a flu pandemic.
- Altered Standards of Care in Mass Casualty Events (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
Report from an expert panel convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness to discuss planning for emergency heath and medical care standards to ensure that the health care provided in a public health emergency such as pandemic influenza results in saving as many lives as possible.
- Adapting Community Call Centers for Crisis Support: A Model for Home-Based Care and Monitoring (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
A model to enable community health call centers, such as poison control centers, nurse advice lines and other hotlines, to support home-management and shelter-in-place approaches in public health emergency events such as pandemic influenza.
- Emergency Preparedness Atlas: U.S. Nursing Home and Hospital Facilities (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
To support State and local planning for a public health emergency, the Atlas includes 1) maps illustrating the size range and distribution of nursing homes and hospitals relative to preparedness regions for six case-study States, and 2) 51 State-specific maps showing the location and size of nursing homes and hospitals serving the resident population.
- Health Emergency Assistance Line and Triage Hub (HEALTH) Model (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
Designed to minimize surges in patient demand on the health care delivery system during a public health emergency. Helps planners determine the requirements, specifications, and resources needed for developing an emergency contact center such as the HEALTH model. Includes a Contact Center Assessment Tool Set that will calculate the numbers of a constituent population that may try to reach a public health agency during a bioterrorism or emergency event.
- National Hospital Available Beds for Emergencies and Disasters (HAvBED) System: Final Report and Appendixes (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
A demonstration model exploring the feasibility of a national real-time hospital-bed tracking system to address a surge of patients during a public health emergency.
- Project XTREME: Cross-Training Respiratory Extenders for Medical Emergencies (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
An interactive cross-training program to teach non-respiratory therapy health care professionals to provide basic respiratory care and ventilator management in a public health emergency such as pandemic influenza. (DVD: Description and ordering information.) - Readiness and Response to Public Health Emergencies: Help Needed Now From Professional Nursing Associations (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
Originally published in the Journal of Professional Nursing. Although nursing is not the only health profession experiencing a workforce shortage, nursing is vital to any large-scale demand for care. Agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services have been working to address readiness and response capabilities in health care professions including nursing, but private organizations and professional associations also have a role to play. - Reopening Shuttered Hospitals to Expand Surge Capacity (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
Designed to help public health officials and hospital and health facility staff determine how best to choose and use a closed or partially closed hospital or health facility to expand surge capacity in advance of a public health emergency. (Includes Surge Toolkit and Facilities Checklist) - Rocky Mountain Regional Care Model for Bioterrorist Events: Locate Alternative Care Sites During an Emergency (Includes Alternate Care Site Selection Tool) (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality )
To help State and local officials quickly locate alternative care sites if hospitals are overwhelmed by patients during a public health emergency such as pandemic influenza.
