Early experience with influenza A H1N109 in an Australian intensive care unit

Leen, Tim; Williams, Teresa A.; Campbell, Lorraine; Chamberlain, Jenny; Gould, Andree; McEntaggart, Geraldine; Leslie, Gavin D.

doi:10.1016/j.iccn.2010.05.005

« Previous Next »Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
Volume 26, Issue 4 , Pages 207-214, August 2010

Early experience with influenza A H1N109 in an Australian intensive care unit

Tim Leen
- ICU, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 8 9224 2601; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Teresa A. Williams
- Critical Care Division, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia
- School of Nursing & Midwifery, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
- Corresponding author at: School of Nursing & Midwifery, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Tel.: +61 439 907 6161; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Lorraine Campbell
- ICU, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 8 9224 2601; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Jenny Chamberlain
- ICU, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 8 9224 2601; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Andree Gould
- ICU, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 8 9224 2601; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Geraldine McEntaggart
- ICU, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 8 9224 2601; fax: +61 8 9224 3668.
Gavin D. Leslie
- School of Nursing & Midwifery, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
- Centre for Education,Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia 6000, Australia
- Tel.: +61 404103344; fax: +61 8 9224 2255.

Accepted 19 May 2010.

Summary

Influenza is a common seasonal viral infection that affects large numbers of people. In early 2009, many people were admitted to hospitals in Mexico with severe respiratory failure following an influenza-like illness, subtyped as H1N1. An increased mortality rate was observed. By June 2009, H1N1 was upgraded to pandemic status. In June–July, Australian ICUs were experiencing increased activity due to the influenza pandemic. While hospitals implemented plans for the pandemic, the particularly heavy demand to provide critical care facilities to accommodate an influx of people with severe respiratory failure became evident and placed a great burden on provision of these services. This paper describes the initial experience (June to mid September) of the pandemic from the nursing perspective in a single Australian ICU. Patients were noted to be younger with a higher proportion of women, two of whom were pregnant. Two patients had APACHE III comorbidity. Of the 31 patients admitted during this period, three patients died in ICU and one patient died in hospital. Aerosol precautions were initiated for all patients. The requirement for single room accommodation placed enormous demands for bed management in ICU. Specific infection control procedures were developed to deal with this new pandemic influenza.

Keywords: Intensive care, Influenza, Pneumonia, Pandemic