Pharmacists dust off the Pandemic guidelines

MEDIA RELEASE

30 April 2008

Pharmacists dust off the Pandemic Infection Control guidelines

Pharmacists will be dusting off their copy of the Pandemic Infection Control guidelines issued to Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand members during the Avian Flu scare in 2005.

As a precautionary measure, the Guild is advising pharmacists to review public health advice contained in the document and the standard operating procedures of all good pharmacists to ensure they are prepared if they encounter a suspected case of the H1N1 influenza virus.

The Guild hopes that members of the public who believe they are at genuine risk of having contracted H1N1 will be sensible, stay home and arrange for an appropriate consultation with their GP.

“Pharmacists are the health professional people see most often and frequently the first place people go for health advice,” says Annabel Young, CEO of the Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand.

“Pharmacists’ primary concern is for their patients, and if a member of the public genuinely thinks they might have H1N1 it is best for all concerned that they contact their public health centre to be clinically assessed under conditions of isolation.”

Where a patient presents with influenza symptoms the Guild is advising pharmacists to ask the following questions to determine the probability of it being the H1N1 strain:

• Ask the patient whether they have recently travelled to Mexico, the US or Canada.
• Ask them whether they have been in contact with a confirmed case of H1N1.

In the unlikely event of a suspected case of H1N1 influenza virus the pharmacist should take the following steps, including:

• Notifying the public health unit immediately.
• If hospitalisation is required, contacting the local hospital and advising them you have a suspected case.
• If hospitalisation is not required, then sending the patient home and awaiting contact from the public health unit.
• Carrying out infection control activities at their pharmacy.

ENDS

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