How to Prepare Your Healthcare Facility for Flu Season
Tis the season… flu season, that is. As cold and flu season bears down upon us, it’s important that your healthcare facility is prepared. That includes your nursing staff, support staff, and patients. But how do you do it?
Here are five tips to get your healthcare facility ready for flu season this year:
#1: Promote Hygiene and Wellness
Encourage healthy practices among your staff, like exercising, getting enough sleep, and eating healthy. While it’s no guarantee against the flu, it certainly helps. Also make a point to share tips with your staff on preventing influenza spread, like disinfecting keyboards, washing hands frequently, and getting the flu vaccine.
#2: Keep Common Areas Disinfected
This flu season, keep a facility-wide plan in place to keep common areas disinfected. Breakrooms, lobbies, and restrooms are breeding grounds for germ-spreading, so evaluate your cleaning strategies to make sure you’re keeping up with routine cleaning and disinfection.
#3: Stock OTC Cold and Flu Medicines
It’s a good idea to bolster your stock of over-the-counter cold and flu medications as the season gets into full swing. Not only is this helpful for your staff if they feel like they’re coming down with something, it can boost morale and lower the chance of employees sharing medication with one another. Cold, cough, and headache relief medicine, cough drops, and basic painkillers are all good options.
#4: Monitor Flu Alerts
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publishes an influenza surveillance report weekly, which monitors the geographical spread of the flu by state. This can be extremely helpful for determining whether your facility might be in the path of a swell of flu cases.
#5: Boost Your Staff
If you get a sudden rush of patients because of the flu or another disease, it can leave your staff caught off guard and struggling to catch up. You need to have a plan in place to boost your staff if the need arises. That’s where an experienced nursing staffing agency like Medical Talent comes in. We can help augment your existing staff with skilled nurses and medical professionals, alleviating the burden on your core team and helping you to get through flu season successfully.
Trust Medical Talent This Flu Season
Need to ramp up your staff as flu season gets closer? Our recruiters are here to help. Contact Medical Talent today to learn more and get started.