title: Lessons learned: managing a pandemic in a multihospital system.
abstract: Pandemic influenza has been a concern since the documentation of the 1918 "Spanish" flu. The potential for a novel flu virus to emerge and cause a global pandemic is real and present. Every year many people suffer severe morbidity and mortality to the seasonal strain of the flu, and a pandemic with a novel virus increases those numbers. This article describes the development, revision, and ultimately the enactment of a pandemic respiratory infectious disease plan used during the response to the 2009 H1N1 flu. The plan and related actions provided a roadmap for a robust response to the pandemic, including the protection of health care workers, visitors and patients and increased vaccination rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Prevention, Baptist Health System, San Antonio, Texas, USA. escurnow@baptisthealthsystem.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Curnow
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Wiles
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wyatt
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D058873:Pandemics / Q000517:prevention & control*