title: H1N1: communication patterns among emergency department staff during the H1N1 outbreak, April 2009.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The H1N1 influenza virus has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the media as a disease that could rival the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic in deaths. During the spring of 2009, emergency departments across the world saw a spike in the number of influenza cases and by June 2009, the WHO had declared H1N1 a pandemic. In order to prevent emergency department staff from becoming ill and to provide up-to-date medical care to patients, information had to be disseminated quickly to emergency department staff.
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous Internet survey was utilized to query emergency department staff regarding communication methods and overall attitudes regarding safety and treatment during the spring of 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of emergency department staff (263; 88.3%) used multiple sources to obtain information about the H1N1 virus. There were 258 respondents (88.9%) that felt that the hospital was supplying them with the necessary information to protect themselves and their families and 280 (98.5%) felt confident that their emergency department was treating patients by the government-recommended guidelines. Statistically significant differences were noted in communication patterns between direct and indirect patient care providers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, H1N1 communication to emergency department staff was perceived as good during the initial H1N1 outbreak. However, because of the limitations associated with an online survey, these results do not allow for generalization to the total emergency department staff population. Hospital administrators may need to consider the differences in communication preferences of direct patient care providers and indirect patient care providers when distributing important information to emergency department staff during crisis and emergency situations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11219, USA. kklein@maimonidesmed.org
authors.forename: Kelly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Hillary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baseluos
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Likourezos
authors.forename: Ashika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology*; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D000078329:Workforce