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Many US schools lack adequate pandemic plans
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Fewer than half of US schools addressed pandemic awareness in their school plan, whereas only 40% had updated their school plans in response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to recent survey results.
“Many US schools are lacking in adequate pandemic plans and must continue to address gaps in pandemic planning,” Terri Rebmann, PhD, RN, CIC, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Saint Louis University School of Public Health, told Infectious Diseases in Children. “One of the most critical ways to accomplish that is by involving school nurses in the planning process because they are the health care professionals who can best inform school administrators about unique aspects of pandemic planning that need to be included in school disaster plans.”
Prior studies predominantly examined a school’s ability to respond to a medical emergency involving a single child, yet few attempted to measure aspects of school preparedness in terms a school-wide disaster response.
To evaluate the school pandemic preparedness, an online survey was sent to school nurses between May and June 2011. School pandemic preparedness scores were calculated by assigning 1 point for each item in the school’s pandemic plan, with a maximum score of 11. Linear regression was used to illustrate factors connected with higher school pandemic preparedness scores. The impact of nurse influenza vaccine uptake was also assessed.
According to survey results, only 2.2% of surveyed nurses reported that their school/district had a mandatory influenza vaccination policy. Pandemic preparedness scores ranged from 0 to 10 points, with an average score of 4.3.
Of the 1,997 nurses from 26 states who completed the survey, 73.7% (n=1,472) reported receiving the seasonal influenza vaccine during the 2010-2011 season.
Determinants of school pandemic preparedness included: planning to be a point of dispensing during a future pandemic (P<.001); having experienced multiple student or employee hospitalizations (P=.01) and/or deaths related to H1N1 during the pandemic (P<.05); having a lead nurse complete the survey (P<.001); and having the school nurse study participant be a member of the school disaster planning committee (P<.001).
“One critical finding from the study is that schools that involve the school nurse in their disaster planning committee had better/more comprehensive pandemic plans,” Rebmann said. “This study also identified many gaps in current school pandemic plans, including the need to have a written pandemic plan, review and update that plan annually, and conduct periodic exercises to test the plan’s effectiveness using infectious disease scenarios. Schools could use information in the study to identify the components of a comprehensive pandemic plan and work to address those issues in their plan.”
The researchers also found that fewer than half of all responding schools participated in a community syndromic surveillance program, including reporting numbers of students experiencing influenza-like illness, gastrointestinal illness or absenteeism rates. A lack of coordination between school-based syndromic surveillance programs and community disaster plans has been identified as a critical gap in disaster planning.
“We now know that many school pandemic plans are inadequate, so the next step is to find effective interventions to improve the plans,” Rebmann said.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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