Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
By Carlos Galarza (Contact / Staff Bio)
August 29, 2009 - 12:00 a.m. EST
SENECA ? The H1N1 flu is so prevalent that Oconee Medical Center (OMC) has stopped testing to confirm the new strain of flu.
According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), about 98 percent of flu cases being treated are of the H1N1 variety, which makes testing for it unnecessary.
In a policy shift rolled out this week, DHEC announced it would no longer be tracking individual cases of H1N1, but rather record the severity of the illness and whether patients need hospitalization.
David Hall, director of Safety and Emergency Management at OMC, explained the new focus taken by the hospital when people displaying flu-like symptoms come seeking to be tested for H1N1.
?If both of us have runny noses and fever, along with coughs and chills, they?re going to hit us with fluids, hit us with Tylenol and tell us to stay home,? Hall said. ?The test for H1N1 would be ill advised because it?s not going to change how you treat the patient. Why waste a resource when 98 percent of the cases are H1N1.?
OMC spokeswoman Heather Goss said some doctors are sending patients to the hospital to be tested and some patients are coming in on their own to be tested. However, she said Friday that testing is no longer recommended or required.
?If you feel sick and have to be seen in the emergency room, we can certainly help you, but we won?t be testing for H1N1,? Goss said.
After about five years of preparing for some type of flu pandemic, including a Bird Flu outbreak that never materialized, staff at OMC could very well have to put into action everything they?ve learned and practiced to-date.
For instance, in the fall of 2008 OMC went through a mass drill in which approximately 1,000 people were vaccinated. Although it was a simulation, real vaccines were given out.
Julie Anderson, a registered nurse who also directs employee health at OMC, said every department in the hospital participated in some way with the mass vaccination drill.
?It was really incredible,? Anderson said. ?We got people through it in a matter of minutes.?
As Oconee County faces the possibility of up to three waves of the H1N1 virus in the coming weeks and months, Hall said the hospital is in position to duplicate its mass vaccination drill, if asked to, at other sites accessible for people to come in and out quickly for their shots.
?What can we do in a week?? Hall asked. ?Well, if we have the people that can give the shots, we know we can walk through 1,000 people a day. That?s a good number of people to be able to do.?
More than ever, health officials are spreading the message through schools, churches, businesses and local government to stress the importance of getting both the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 vaccination, when they become available. The seasonal flu shot should be rolled out in September, while the H1N1 vaccination could be ready to be administered by mid-October.
Also, anyone with symptoms of flu-like illness ? fever, aches, coughing, runny nose and sore throat ? should stay home from school or work. People with such symptoms should not visit patients at the hospital. However, if a trip to the hospital is needed, officials ask that you put on a mask when you arrive and use a hand sanitizer provided.
Health officials also recommend that everyone practice good hand hygiene by washing hands frequently, or using hand sanitizer. Also, avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth and sneeze or cough into your sleeve or tissue rather than into your hand.
http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/aug/29/oconee-medical-center-stops-testing-h1n1/
August 29, 2009 - 12:00 a.m. EST
SENECA ? The H1N1 flu is so prevalent that Oconee Medical Center (OMC) has stopped testing to confirm the new strain of flu.
According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), about 98 percent of flu cases being treated are of the H1N1 variety, which makes testing for it unnecessary.
In a policy shift rolled out this week, DHEC announced it would no longer be tracking individual cases of H1N1, but rather record the severity of the illness and whether patients need hospitalization.
David Hall, director of Safety and Emergency Management at OMC, explained the new focus taken by the hospital when people displaying flu-like symptoms come seeking to be tested for H1N1.
?If both of us have runny noses and fever, along with coughs and chills, they?re going to hit us with fluids, hit us with Tylenol and tell us to stay home,? Hall said. ?The test for H1N1 would be ill advised because it?s not going to change how you treat the patient. Why waste a resource when 98 percent of the cases are H1N1.?
OMC spokeswoman Heather Goss said some doctors are sending patients to the hospital to be tested and some patients are coming in on their own to be tested. However, she said Friday that testing is no longer recommended or required.
?If you feel sick and have to be seen in the emergency room, we can certainly help you, but we won?t be testing for H1N1,? Goss said.
After about five years of preparing for some type of flu pandemic, including a Bird Flu outbreak that never materialized, staff at OMC could very well have to put into action everything they?ve learned and practiced to-date.
For instance, in the fall of 2008 OMC went through a mass drill in which approximately 1,000 people were vaccinated. Although it was a simulation, real vaccines were given out.
Julie Anderson, a registered nurse who also directs employee health at OMC, said every department in the hospital participated in some way with the mass vaccination drill.
?It was really incredible,? Anderson said. ?We got people through it in a matter of minutes.?
As Oconee County faces the possibility of up to three waves of the H1N1 virus in the coming weeks and months, Hall said the hospital is in position to duplicate its mass vaccination drill, if asked to, at other sites accessible for people to come in and out quickly for their shots.
?What can we do in a week?? Hall asked. ?Well, if we have the people that can give the shots, we know we can walk through 1,000 people a day. That?s a good number of people to be able to do.?
More than ever, health officials are spreading the message through schools, churches, businesses and local government to stress the importance of getting both the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 vaccination, when they become available. The seasonal flu shot should be rolled out in September, while the H1N1 vaccination could be ready to be administered by mid-October.
Also, anyone with symptoms of flu-like illness ? fever, aches, coughing, runny nose and sore throat ? should stay home from school or work. People with such symptoms should not visit patients at the hospital. However, if a trip to the hospital is needed, officials ask that you put on a mask when you arrive and use a hand sanitizer provided.
Health officials also recommend that everyone practice good hand hygiene by washing hands frequently, or using hand sanitizer. Also, avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth and sneeze or cough into your sleeve or tissue rather than into your hand.
http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/aug/29/oconee-medical-center-stops-testing-h1n1/