Launch Of Pandemic Influenza Planning Toolkit, Royal Australian College Of General Practitioners

Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Respiratory / Asthma;  Public Health
Article Date: 03 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is launching its Pandemic Influenza Planning Toolkit: the 'flu' kit, which has been designed to support general practitioners, practice managers and practice nurses in educating staff and patients as the practice develops a plan to respond to a potential influenza pandemic.

The pandemic 'flu' kit has been developed with the support of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and will be launched on Saturday, 4 October during the Wonca Asia Pacific Regional Conference/RACGP Annual Scientific Convention (ASC) 2008 in Melbourne. The workbook will be available through the RACGP website at http://www.racgp.org.au/pandemicresources.

"An influenza pandemic will challenge our health system. General practitioners will play a critical front line role in responding to a potential influenza pandemic, in supporting public health goals in disease control and in providing essential health care to patients," said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President and GP in Northern NSW.

"We don't know when the next influenza pandemic will occur, but we can plan ahead. If an outbreak were to occur, people will turn to their general practice for care. We need to be ready.

"With appropriate planning for early interventions, it might be possible to limit the impact of an influenza outbreak and therefore the outbreak accelerating to a pandemic.

"General practice has an important role in the clinical assessment and management of acutely unwell influenza patients and the ongoing management of non influenza related care, as well as disease surveillance.

"In responding to a pandemic, general practices will need to develop systems to provide for the safety of practice staff and the continuation of high quality clinical care to patients," said Dr Mitchell.

The pandemic 'flu' kit, will guide GPs and their practice staff through a series of actions to help practices develop a plan to respond to a pandemic and to build knowledge and competency in managing the impact of an emerging pandemic.

Pandemic preparedness of a general practice requires careful consideration and planning across a wide range of contingencies. From the first patient with influenza-like symptoms presenting for an appointment, through to how an acutely unwell patient is managed while in isolation in their own home.

"As the kit outlines, simple measures such as hand washing, wearing a mask and isolating potentially infected patients are effective in preventing the spread of respiratory virus infections," said Dr Chris Mitchell.

The pandemic 'flu' kit consists of a CD with the education modules and five practice posters. A copy of the pandemic 'flu' kit will be sent to every general practice in Australia. For more information on pandemic influenza planning and other useful resources please visit http://www.racgp.org.au/pandemicresources

GPs can earn RACGP QA&CPD points as they work through the pandemic 'flu' kit. There is a range of learning options across Category 1 and 2 points.

The RACGP would like to thank the members of the expert reference group who generously contributed their time and knowledge to this project.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP has the largest general practitioner membership of any medical organisation in Australia and represents the majority of Australia's general practitioners.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners