According to an article by the Associated Press, 52 percent of nursing homes in Nebraska and Michigan have no plans for a flu pandemic. While many hospitals and healthcare facilities have allegedly taken for granted that nursing homes could be of great assistance in a worst case scenario outbreak of influenza, the study reveals that such confidence is ill-placed. 

In terms of the how nursing homes could begin to prepare to assist hospitals at such a critical time, the AP article quotes one official as identifying that "specific areas of improvement for nursing homes include communication with nearby health departments and hospitals at the planning stages, exercising formulated plans, and planning for staff shortages."

Most disturbingly, a Washington Post article elucidated results of the study even further, stating that only half of all 400 nursing homes which were surveyed had stockpiled equipment such as gloves and hand sanitizer, and only 6% had conducted pandemic influenza exercises with staff. Additionally, less than half had provided pandemic flu education to their staff. 

Most researchers and epidemiologists believe that it is not a matter of if we will experience a global influenza pandemic---it is simply a matter of when. In 1918, the last major influenza outbreak killed an estimated 20 million people worldwide, with some estimates as high as 100 million (or 5% of the global population). Although flu vaccination is practiced in many industrialized nations around the world, each year's batch of vaccine is concocted based upon projections of what strain of flu is most likely to resurface in the coming year. Since a worldwide pandemic will most likely be born of a form of avian flu, many scientists doubt that a vaccine will be sufficiently effective (or available in large enough quantities) to stem the tide of a global pandemic. 

With a large percentage of the population sickened (including healthcare workers, police, firefighters, and other essential personnel), secondary and tertiary facilities like nursing homes may be key in alleviating overcrowding in hospitals during a pandemic. It is clearly hoped that the AMA study will galvanize action on the part of long term care facilities, the hospital system, and the appropriate government bodies with power to create a framework for cooperation, coordination and seamless interdependence in the face of a global public health crisis of potentially historic proportions. 

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NurseKeith is a writer, blogger, consultant and nurse. Please feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway .  

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