14 DAY TRIAL // A study says that 40% of health professionals will stay home, away from the workplace, in case a bird flu pandemic should occur. Two-thirds of the 308 employees involved in the poll said their work would put them in jeopardy of contracting bird flu.
The survey was conducted between March 2005 and July 2005, involving employees of 3 Maryland county health departments.
"40% of the health care workers surveyed said they would not respond in the event of a flu pandemic. The most important factor, in terms of showing up for work, was how much the individual employee perceived his or her role [to be] in the agency's response," said study co-author Dr. Daniel J. Barnett, from the Johns Hopkins University Center.
Even if this decision of the workers might reduce the emergency response, experts said the U.K. health workers were prepared to work through a flu pandemic. The government is building stockpiles of 14.6 million doses of Tamiflu, drug which does not cure but slows down the disease, assuring these workers that they will be the first to receive it.
Ministers have also promised to buy enough vaccine to treat the entire population. Health workers will play a key role in most countries if a bird flu pandemic should occur. The study clearly shows that more training for the workers is needed.
"We need to focus on giving each worker a better sense of the pandemic scenario and the importance of his or her personal role in responding to it as a health department employee," Barnett said. "In addition, we need to give workers confidence that the agencies will give them adequate personal protective equipment."