What Nurses Can Do About H1N1
Be an educated voice of reassurance to the community
Situations like a pandemic can invoke much anxiety, as the unknowns and the fears of how the pandemic will affect the nation are numerous. Sometimes information in the media or on the internet can invoke more sense of threat and panic than actually exists. Nurses should be competent in the information and public health data that is released by CDC and others reputable public health organizations, and use this knowledge to help others read through the scary sounding words and statistics.
How nurses can protect themselves, and how best to educate patients and
communities to protect themselves
Follow your employer's guidelines for infection control. Proper hand washing, social distancing (staying home/avoiding public gatherings when sick), and covering a cough/sneeze with a tissue or sleeve can help to prevent the spread of H1N1 and other infectious diseases. Health care workers caring for someone with suspected or known H1N1 should use a properly fitted N95 respirator (see H1N1 Prevention for more).
Know your role in your employer's disaster plan
All health care organizations should have a disaster/emergency response plan. The ANA encourages nurses to be oriented to the plan, and become aware of what their roles will be in a disaster situation. In some response plans, the nurses might be assigned tasks that are outside their normal, day-to-day duties or environments.
Advocate for pandemic planning if it's not already part of the disaster plan
Sometimes, disaster response plans are created in the context of a short-term, high impact event, such as an explosion, a terrorist event, or natural disasters like tornados. In contrast, a pandemic situation can affect a region for up to three weeks, and will place a longer lasting burden on health care. Be sure that your employer's disaster plan addresses the needs of employees and the community during a pandemic specifically.
If you think you will want to be a volunteer responder, register now
The ANA encourages nurses that think they want to be volunteer responders to do so by registering with an organized emergency response team. This could be as large a response as a federal disaster response team, to joining a local Medical Reserve Corps to give vaccine in a public clinic. Be sure to discuss the decision to commit to a registry with your employer and your family/dependants. For more information, see the
ANA's Volunteer Now! page.
Be personally prepared
Have a personal preparedness plan, and communicate it with your friends, family, and those who depend on you. Keep essential supplies (e.g. food, medications, drinking water) at home for you, your family/dependants, and pets. Establish an emergency communication plan.
Be vaccinated - Be immune!
Nurses have a responsibility to be vaccinated to protect themselves, their families, their colleagues, and the people the care for. Being vaccinated for seasonal and pandemic influenza provides primary immunity to the seasonal strains of flu, and the 2009 H1N1 strain. Not only will being vaccinated keep individual nurses from being sick, but will help prevent them from spreading illness to their family, those they work with, and their patients. According to clinical trial data, the 2009 H1N1 vaccine is both safe and effective, and will be a key way to prevent widespread pandemic flu. For more, see ANA's H1N1 Vaccine and Seasonal Influenza pages.
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