Influenza: A Comprehensive Review
Course #54424 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Because medications to treat acute illness due to influenza are available, there is a tendency to accept the existence of influenza and to forget the fact that 49,000 Americans die annually from the flu and its complications. In addition, the resulting hospitalizations and medical care cost the healthcare system up to $12 billion each year. Sadly, there are underused vaccines that can prevent many of the hospitalizations and deaths, thus lessening the suffering and financial burden of this disease. This course will explore the history of influenza, symptoms, communicability, care of the patient, the makeup of the virus, avian and swine types of flu, vaccine issues, and pandemic planning. Reproducible patient education materials will be included. The vital roles of the healthcare professional and community involvement will be stressed.
- INTRODUCTION
- HISTORY
- INFLUENZA VIRUS
- INFLUENZA DISEASE
- INFLUENZA-LIKE ILLNESSES
- COMPLICATIONS OF INFLUENZA
- INFLUENZA VACCINE
- PROMOTING THE USE OF INFLUENZA VACCINE
- OTHER METHODS TO PREVENT INFLUENZA
- ANTIVIRAL MEDICATIONS
- CARE OF THE PATIENT WITH INFLUENZA
- AVIAN INFLUENZA
- SWINE INFLUENZA
- CONCLUSION
- GLOSSARY OF TERMS
- RESOURCES
- APPENDIX 1
- APPENDIX 2
- APPENDIX 3
- Works Cited
This course is designed to help dental professionals understand influenza and their role in its prevention.
The purpose of this course is to provide dental professionals with an updated review of influenza, including clinical aspects, public health issues, and strategies for prevention. The goals are to minimize the burden of influenza on patients and communities, prevent complications and hospitalizations, and save healthcare dollars.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Articulate the history and burden of influenza on the community.
- Explain the types of influenza viruses, including the H and N designations.
- Describe the symptoms, transmission, and diagnosis of influenza.
- Distinguish between influenza and influenza-like illnesses.
- Identify complications of influenza.
- Articulate the effectiveness and importance of the influenza vaccines.
- Implement a strategy to increase vaccine administration to vulnerable patients.
- Describe the best method of hand hygiene and other ways of protecting against influenza.
- List the current antiviral medications available and their use.
- Teach family members how to care for people with the flu, including interventions for non-English-proficient patients and caregivers.
- Identify the significance of avian and swine influenza, particularly issues related to pandemic disease.
Elizabeth T. Murane, PHN, BSN, MA, received her Bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and a Master of Arts in Nursing Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Her nursing experience includes hospital nursing on pediatric, medical, and surgical units. She lived for 15 years in a village in Eastern Papua New Guinea providing medical and linguistic/literacy services for the villagers. She was a public health nurse for a year with the Brooklyn, New York Health Department and 20 years with the Shasta County Public Health Department in Redding, California. As a public health nursing director, she developed response plans for environmental and health issue disasters for both Shasta County and adjacent Tehama County Public Health Departments.
Contributing faculty, Elizabeth T. Murane, PHN, BSN, MA, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Mark J. Szarejko, DDS, FAGD
The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.