Identifying the key stakeholders and standardizing communications
Healthcare infection prevention programs (HIPPs) should identify stakeholders from the local health department, emergency department, microbiology, hospital leadership, emergency management, UPU team (if applicable), and both nursing and physician leaders a priori with clear expectations for whom to contact, when, and via what mechanisms. Collectively, these stakeholders must establish regular communication plans. The use of existing communication infrastructure within the healthcare system along with preproduced resources (eg, fact sheets and key messages) that can be tailored to the 2019-nCoV will expedite information sharing.1
Similar to communications between health department and hospital leaders, communication with healthcare workers (HCW) should be explicit and the information provided should be frequent, focused, and current. Frequent communications ensure that HCWs feel they have the correct information, which can limit the spread of misinformation. The healthcare system’s default posture should include the assumption that a novel pathogen is transmissible and poses a threat. Healthcare team members must feel that the HIPP and leadership are responding with both urgency and concern.
Efforts to quickly detect, respond to, and manage an outbreak depend largely on the availability of reliable communication infrastructure that can support the optimization of decision making for stakeholders. The establishment of preapproved, systematic protocols to guide decision making is critical. Teams that initiate communications must have the appropriate protocols, procedures, contact lists, and paging numbers to initiate coordination of communication that include up-to-date, off-hour contact details in the communications plan and set the expectation for frequency of follow-up during the initial communications.
Options to coordinate with key stakeholders range from e-mail communications and exchange of informational materials to joint decision-making meetings. These meetings need to be both reliable and flexible, allowing stakeholders to participate according to the specific nature of the situation. Teleconference or face-to-face meetings may be appropriate based on the specific challenge and the groups involved. Web-based, secure communication systems may also be helpful as a means of providing input and exchanging materials and information.