An investigation into the management of the Swine Flu in the education sector with a view to assessing the policies and procedures and looking at their effectiveness in reducing the spread of pandemic H1N1 (Swine Flu)

Abstract

This Dissertation examines and contrasts the international, national and local polices on Pandemic H1N1 during the recent (2009) emergency, with a specific focus on the implications for the third level education sector. Plans are reviewed internationally, then nationally and then locally by investigating Pandemic plans o f the World Health Organisation (WHO), o f the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland and the plan o f the Institute o f Technology (I.T.) Sligo. The plans are compared and contrasted to investigate whether Ireland’s plans are properly derived from the international guidance and, then, I.T. Sligo Pandemic Plan is compared with the national guidance. It is shown that Ireland complied with the international guidance when preparing the national Pandemic Plan. It is also shown that, except for one element, the I.T. Sligo plan complied with the national guidance when creating their own Pandemic Plan. I.T. Sligo did not comply with one section o f the HSE guidance “Guidance for Third Level Institutions”. The actual implementation o f local policy is investigated by looking specifically at the I.T. Sligo plan. I.T. Sligo is a third-level educational institution. Implementation o f the plan is demonstrated using different qualitative research methods, these being a comparative analysis, a questionnaire, an interview and a physical examination o f four different areas within the institute. An evaluation o f the effectiveness o f the implementation is presented. Overall the dissertation demonstrates that I.T. Sligo implemented its Pandemic H1N1 Plan apart from one element o f the health care plan this being the telephone triage system as a means o f patient assessment which is demonstrated in the I.T. Sligo Health care plan. The incidence o f Pandemic H1N1 in Ireland is contrasted and compared with levels in the North West. The North West contributed significantly to the level o f cases in the entire republic. Also, one fifth o f all persons that were infected in Ireland, and in the North West, were between the ages o f 17-23 years. This research demonstrates that locally, nationally and internationally we were prepared for Pandemic H1N1 and all the relevant plans were put into action when pandemic H1N1 first emerged. However, the national and local plans had specific areas which could be improved.