General practice staff and family require protection in pandemic situation

January 01, 0001

General practice staff and family require protection in pandemic situation

The aim of this study by resarchers from Australia was to assess the views, needs and intended behaviour of general practitioners and practice nurses (PNs) regarding pandemic influenza. A postal survey of GPs and PNs were selected to represent a diverse sample of practices from inner-city, semi-urban and rural areas. The study was undertaken from 1 February to 1 April 2009. Of 390 general practice staff who were sent the survey, 139 (36%) completed it.

Most respondents felt confident that they possessed the necessary knowledge (71.5%, 98/137) and skills (73.7%, 101/137) to provide patient care during an influenza pandemic. Although 38.7% (53/137) stated that they would visit quarantined symptomatic patients, 41.6% (57/137) were unsure. More than half the respondents (53.2%, 74/139) stated that they would require access to vaccination and antivirals for their family as well as themselves before they would attend symptomatic patients at the general practice.

The researchers concluded: "These findings provide evidence of the need to ensure that general practice staff have access to personal and family protection to encourage an adequate response to a pandemic situation."

Are you all planning to protect yourselves, staff and families in such a future situation?


For the full abstract, click here.

MJA 192(7):378-380, 5 April 2010 © The Medical Journal of Australia 2010
Examining the knowledge of and attitudes to pandemic influenza among general practice staff. Holly Seale, Kirsten F Ward, Nick Zwar, Debbie Van, Julie Leask and C Raina MacIntyre. Correspondence to Holly Seale: [email protected]

Category: HSR. Health Services Research. Keywords: knowledge, skills, attitudes, pandemic, influenza, general practice, staff, postal survey, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Melbourne, Australia. Posted on Global Family Doctor 23 April 2010

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

COVID-19 Resources

WONCA webinars, journal links and more

WONCA position statements

WONCA statements on a variety of issues

PEARLS

577 Individual behavioural counselling helps people to quit smoking 575 Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplements may be beneficial in age-related macular degeneration 574 Oral antifungals effective for toenail onychomycosis 570 Decision aids beneficial for people facing health treatment or screening decisions 569 Computer-generated reminders on paper benefit quality of care