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Flu Update
Hospital recommends that all employees receive vaccinations for both seasonal and the novel H1N1 flu.
All staff and appropriate patients should get vaccinated for seasonal flu now; beginning in mid-to-late October, the novel H1N1 vaccine will be available.
Ambulatory patients can receive the seasonal flu vaccine now and the novel H1N1 vaccines beginning in mid-to-late October from their primary care provider.
View novel H1N1 flu information.
Seasonal flu:
Occupational Health Services will offer seasonal flu vaccines to all employees.
The Employee Flu Vaccination program kicks off Sept. 26 and runs through Oct. 4 in the Lobby. View the dates and times of off-site employee flu clinics.
As a employee, you are encouraged to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu because of the protection it affords not only for you and your family, but also for our patients, their families, our visitors and our staff.
This year, all employees are required by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) to certify that they have received a seasonal flu vaccine or declined to accept one by Dec. 15.
To accommodate this DPH mandate, the Human Resource Information Systems Department (HRIS) will add a new form that can be accessed through Employee Self Service in PeopleSoft to certify the process and capture the designation of each employee. Stay tuned for details on that process.
Staff without computer access or those who may need assistance can contact their managers for more information.
For our Employees:
If you are home and develop flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat), please DO NOT come to work. You are required to follow the call-out procedure for your department, notify your manager and please call - do not visit - Occupational Health Services (OHS) at.
If you are at work and develop flu-like symptoms, notify your manager and go home as soon as possible as you may be infectious to others. Call OHS at from home to report your illness. You do not need to be seen by OHS or emergency services before leaving. Managers DO NOT need to send ill employees to OHS for evaluation before sending them home.
You must be cleared by OHS before returning to work and this may be done via phone by calling
During off hours/weekends if you have additional employee health questions or concerns, please contact the On-Call OHS Nurse Practitioner beeper.
If you have medical conditions that put you at risk for influenza complicati
ons or feel that you need medical attention, please contact your primary care provider. If you visit your primary care provider, please wear a surgical mask.
If you have any questions about precautions - please contact the Infection Control (pager #.
Reminders:
Practicing meticulous hand hygiene minimizes your risk of becoming infected and spreading the virus.
Symptoms are similar to normal seasonal flu and include fever, cough and sore throat. If you have a fever, we ask that you please stay at home.
Good respiratory etiquette includes covering your cough or sneeze, immediate hand cleaning and disposing of tissues.
Clean your hands immediately after coughing and/or sneezing (wash with soap and water, or an alcohol hand rub, e.g. Purell).
Use appropriate infection control practices during contact with anyone who shows symptoms.
Novel H1N1:
Novel H1N1 vaccine will be distributed as soon as it becomes available from DPH (most likely mid-to-late October). The vaccine will involve two injections given three weeks apart. The seasonal flu vaccine is not expected to protect against the 2009 H1N1 flu; however, the seasonal flu vaccine and the first round of H1N1 vaccination can be given at the same time. An information sheet on the novel H1N1 flu will soon be available for download.
The number of seasonal flu and novel H1N1 cases is likely to increase as people settle back into their routines of work and school and travel, which increase opportunities for person to person contact. As always, we continue to work closely with local, state and national public health experts.
Novel H1N1 has the potential to make many people sick since this is a new influenza virus and most of us do not have immunity. The higher risk groups include:
Pregnant women, children and young adults age 24 years or younger.
Anyone with chronic medical conditions including:
chronic lung (including asthma),
cardiovascular disease (except high blood pressure),
kidney, liver, cognitive, neurologic/neuromuscular, hematologic, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes),
immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or HIV).
Droplet Precautions (the same precautions used for seasonal influenza) should be used for patients with suspected or confirmed novel H1N1 influenza in the inpatient, ambulatory and emergency department settings, but there is an IMPORTANT EXCEPTION that you will see below.
Screening and triage of patients coming to our hospital, ED and clinics, and a careful adherence to infection control precautions are the most important ways to prevent spread of novel H1N1 within our health care facility.
Ambulatory clinics and the Emergency Department:
Continue to provide surgical masks to patients with fever and cough or sore throat.
Continue to screen patients for fever and cough or sore throat and place patients with these symptoms in an exam room as soon as possible.
Don a surgical mask before entering the room. (An N95 mask is NOT required when obtaining a nasopharyngeal swab for diagnostic testing.)
Perform meticulous hand hygiene before and after caring for patients.
Inpatient setting:
Place patient in a single room. (A negative pressure isolation room is NOT required.)
Don a surgical mask before entering the room. (An N95 mask is NOT required for routine patient care or when obtaining a nasopharyngeal swab for diagnostic testing.)
Perform meticulous hand hygiene before and after caring for patients.
IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: health care personnel who are performing procedures that may generate aerosols of respiratory secretions, such as bronchoscopy, intubation, extubation or open deep tracheal suctioning (this does not include in-line suctioning) must wear an N95 mask or PAPR and eye protection (goggles or a face shield).
Down playing use of N95 masks!!!!!!
Flu Update
Hospital recommends that all employees receive vaccinations for both seasonal and the novel H1N1 flu.
All staff and appropriate patients should get vaccinated for seasonal flu now; beginning in mid-to-late October, the novel H1N1 vaccine will be available.
Ambulatory patients can receive the seasonal flu vaccine now and the novel H1N1 vaccines beginning in mid-to-late October from their primary care provider.
View novel H1N1 flu information.
Seasonal flu:
Occupational Health Services will offer seasonal flu vaccines to all employees.
The Employee Flu Vaccination program kicks off Sept. 26 and runs through Oct. 4 in the Lobby. View the dates and times of off-site employee flu clinics.
As a employee, you are encouraged to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu because of the protection it affords not only for you and your family, but also for our patients, their families, our visitors and our staff.
This year, all employees are required by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) to certify that they have received a seasonal flu vaccine or declined to accept one by Dec. 15.
To accommodate this DPH mandate, the Human Resource Information Systems Department (HRIS) will add a new form that can be accessed through Employee Self Service in PeopleSoft to certify the process and capture the designation of each employee. Stay tuned for details on that process.
Staff without computer access or those who may need assistance can contact their managers for more information.
For our Employees:
If you are home and develop flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat), please DO NOT come to work. You are required to follow the call-out procedure for your department, notify your manager and please call - do not visit - Occupational Health Services (OHS) at.
If you are at work and develop flu-like symptoms, notify your manager and go home as soon as possible as you may be infectious to others. Call OHS at from home to report your illness. You do not need to be seen by OHS or emergency services before leaving. Managers DO NOT need to send ill employees to OHS for evaluation before sending them home.
You must be cleared by OHS before returning to work and this may be done via phone by calling
During off hours/weekends if you have additional employee health questions or concerns, please contact the On-Call OHS Nurse Practitioner beeper.
If you have medical conditions that put you at risk for influenza complicati
ons or feel that you need medical attention, please contact your primary care provider. If you visit your primary care provider, please wear a surgical mask.
If you have any questions about precautions - please contact the Infection Control (pager #.
Reminders:
Practicing meticulous hand hygiene minimizes your risk of becoming infected and spreading the virus.
Symptoms are similar to normal seasonal flu and include fever, cough and sore throat. If you have a fever, we ask that you please stay at home.
Good respiratory etiquette includes covering your cough or sneeze, immediate hand cleaning and disposing of tissues.
Clean your hands immediately after coughing and/or sneezing (wash with soap and water, or an alcohol hand rub, e.g. Purell).
Use appropriate infection control practices during contact with anyone who shows symptoms.
Novel H1N1:
Novel H1N1 vaccine will be distributed as soon as it becomes available from DPH (most likely mid-to-late October). The vaccine will involve two injections given three weeks apart. The seasonal flu vaccine is not expected to protect against the 2009 H1N1 flu; however, the seasonal flu vaccine and the first round of H1N1 vaccination can be given at the same time. An information sheet on the novel H1N1 flu will soon be available for download.
The number of seasonal flu and novel H1N1 cases is likely to increase as people settle back into their routines of work and school and travel, which increase opportunities for person to person contact. As always, we continue to work closely with local, state and national public health experts.
Novel H1N1 has the potential to make many people sick since this is a new influenza virus and most of us do not have immunity. The higher risk groups include:
Pregnant women, children and young adults age 24 years or younger.
Anyone with chronic medical conditions including:
chronic lung (including asthma),
cardiovascular disease (except high blood pressure),
kidney, liver, cognitive, neurologic/neuromuscular, hematologic, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes),
immunosuppression (including immunosuppression caused by medications or HIV).
Droplet Precautions (the same precautions used for seasonal influenza) should be used for patients with suspected or confirmed novel H1N1 influenza in the inpatient, ambulatory and emergency department settings, but there is an IMPORTANT EXCEPTION that you will see below.
Screening and triage of patients coming to our hospital, ED and clinics, and a careful adherence to infection control precautions are the most important ways to prevent spread of novel H1N1 within our health care facility.
Ambulatory clinics and the Emergency Department:
Continue to provide surgical masks to patients with fever and cough or sore throat.
Continue to screen patients for fever and cough or sore throat and place patients with these symptoms in an exam room as soon as possible.
Don a surgical mask before entering the room. (An N95 mask is NOT required when obtaining a nasopharyngeal swab for diagnostic testing.)
Perform meticulous hand hygiene before and after caring for patients.
Inpatient setting:
Place patient in a single room. (A negative pressure isolation room is NOT required.)
Don a surgical mask before entering the room. (An N95 mask is NOT required for routine patient care or when obtaining a nasopharyngeal swab for diagnostic testing.)
Perform meticulous hand hygiene before and after caring for patients.
IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: health care personnel who are performing procedures that may generate aerosols of respiratory secretions, such as bronchoscopy, intubation, extubation or open deep tracheal suctioning (this does not include in-line suctioning) must wear an N95 mask or PAPR and eye protection (goggles or a face shield).
Down playing use of N95 masks!!!!!!