Designing communication strategies for health care workers during pandemics

The Project goal was to improve the quality and timeliness of clinical guidance provided to Canadian health care professionals during an influenza pandemic through the development of a strategy and framework for the creation, dissemination and evaluation of clinical guidance. The target audience is health care professionals providing influenza care (e.g. family physicians, nurses, ER physicians, pharmacists, intensivists etc). The Project will map a process to use accepted methods of evidence review, guidance development, communication, and dissemination to provide respected, useful and timely clinical guidance to Canadian HCPs during pandemic and interpandemic periods. We will present the resultant process maps and strategy for the effective delivery of clinical guidance to front-line clinical care during influenza pandemics. The needs of HC professionals will be identified and matched to options based on evidence (where available) or specific experiences during pH1N1. The structure and processes needed to efficiently deliver knowledge products (HCP-adapted clinical practices) to front-line HCPs and possible solutions for the management of barriers to the adoption of these knowledge products by end-users will be described. The ultimate product will be a recommended process, in sufficient detail and reflecting the realities of the Canadian health care system, to describe optimal guidance dissemination to the targeted populations. The project is intensely collaborative between PH (leadership during pH1N1 and responsible for pandemic planning), clinical care providers and academics. The final paper will be delivered in September, 2013, allowing the authors to discuss the final report and recommendations.