State of Texas assessment: Pandemic influenza capacity, integration and partnerships

As federal pandemic influenza funding diminishes, there is an urgency and demand to show that the funding provided has improved preparedness efforts to respond to a pandemic. The USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness at the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health has conducted an assessment with public health, emergency management, and healthcare stakeholders throughout the State of Texas to determine the effectiveness of pandemic influenza preparedness planning and partnerships. Specifically, this assessment was conducted to better understand the capacity of public health regions to respond to a flu pandemic, the horizontal and vertical integration of pandemic influenza plans and partners, and the involvement of non-traditional stakeholders in pandemic influenza planning. The assessment was distributed state-wide using Survey Monkey to full service health departments, county-level emergency management coordinators, and healthcare (hospital/clinic) stakeholders responsible for pandemic influenza planning in their facility. Assessments will be analyzed by public health region, job field affiliation (public health vs. emergency management vs. healthcare), and population density (rural vs. suburban vs. urban). Assessments will also compare common questions from previous public health pandemic influenza assessments conducted in 2006 and 2007. Results of the assessment will be presented.