Managing Calls and Call Centers during a Large-Scale Influenza Outbreak: Implementation Tool

Managing Calls and Call Centers during a Large-Scale Influenza Outbreak: Implementation Tool
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0500

During a response to a large-scale influenza outbreak such as the current H1N1 outbreak, a community’s 9-1-1 and healthcare systems may experience a surge in calls or walk-in visits for care, advice, and information. In fact, call volumes or walk-in visits could reach the point of overwhelming the 9-1-1 and healthcare systems, rendering them unable to respond to other emergencies in an efficient and effective manner. In those instances, community planners should take steps to divert unnecessary calls away from the community 9-1-1 system and non-critically ill patients away from the healthcare system to reserve both for actual emergency situations. This implementation tool provides a step-by-step approach to achieving this objective by focusing on alternative call center resources.