Pandemic Flu Training Urged for Health Workers

LONDON — Researchers called for more training, better equipment and counselling on Tuesday after nearly half of health workers questioned in a U.S. survey said they would not report for work during an influenza pandemic.

The poll of more than 308 workers from three health centers in Maryland revealed that more than 40 percent would be unlikely to report for work and 66 percent thought they would be putting themselves at risk if they did.

"In the face of a pandemic influenza threat, local health department employees’ unwillingness to report to duty may pose a threat to the nation’s emergency response infrastructure," Dr Ran Balicer, of Ben-Gurion University in Israel, said in a report in the online journal BMC Public Health.

World health experts have urged countries to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic. They fear the H5N1 avian virus circulating in birds could mutate in a strain that could become highly infectious in humans.

The virus has killed more than 100 people since 2003 but it has not shown in can spread easily from person to person.

The poll showed that technical and support staff, most of whom thought they would not be asked to report for work, were the least likely to participate.

"We therefore believe further efforts must be directed at ensuring that all local public health workers, but most notably non-clinical professional staff, understand in advance the importance of their role during an influenza pandemic — otherwise they will fail to show up when they are most needed," Balicer said in the study.

Only 33.4 percent of workers thought they were knowledgeable about the public health impact of pandemic influenza.

Less than a third who took part in the poll believed they would have an important role in the response of a local outbreak of human pandemic flu but 86 percent of that group, mostly clinicians, said they would be willing to help.

In addition to preparedness education, protective gear, counselling and support, the researchers said specialized training emphasizing the specific role an individual would play is needed.

"These data offer a current, evidence-based window into the needs of public health workers who would serve as a backbone of locally-driven emergency response in an influenza pandemic setting," Balicer added.