Disease Control of Higher Education Institutions - Report Example

GWU Beats H1N1 Flu before it Beats you! Introduction: With the outbreak of H1N1 virus the management and the ity of George Washington University had taken several initiatives at different levels to fight this imminent threat. The main mission of this particular project is to create a level of awareness and understanding about the H1N1 virus on the George Washington University campus. The project also aims at increasing the awareness among the residents who will in turn help in the process of keeping the environment safe and sound and thus the students can stay healthy and happy. The project here basically targets at preventing the disease and its spread. It is a well known fact preventing a disease is much useful and effective than curing it. Keeping that point of view in mind such a project is planned to be implemented in the George Washington University campus. The importance of the project lies in the fact that this virus has already affected 414,000 individuals all over the world and has taken over 5000 human lives. (WHO, 2009) In United States alone, between August and October, this disease has caused death of 292 citizens. (CDC, 2009) Presently there are at least 74 schools that have been closed across the country due to confirmed presence of swine flu while 30 have been closed for preventive measures. (“More than 100 U.S schools closed because of swine flu”, 2009) Phase 1: Adoption of the program: The main goal of the project is to reduce the prevalence of the H1N1 virus on the George Washington University Campus among the residents especially during the flu season. Also the project plans to increase the number of Flu shots in the campus of the University. But the first and foremost thing that is required to be done is a proper manner is the public propaganda of the project. The message should be well delivered to the candidates and the residents involving whom the project is structured. Without a proper notification there are high chances of misunderstanding especially in case of the local residents and the guardians. Then in the next step the project planners must start marketing the concept by focusing on two major issues. Firstly they have to promote the fact that swine flue is a deadly disease and it may affect the environment. Then secondly after establishing this fact the planners should concentrate on marketing the concept of prevention of the disease by emphasizing on the hygiene factor within the university campus. Phase 2: Identifying and Prioritizing the Tasks to be completed: As already mentioned earlier in the planning phase that the main aim of the project is to reduce the cause of the general flu by forty percent on the George Washington University campus over the course of five years. For that reason the task and the subtasks that would be identified should cover a time period of almost five year. This is viable as this preventive measure that would be taken should necessarily be a continuous process and not a one time attempt. Also along with that a repeated system up gradation is required as there would be a new set of students joining the campus every year. A proper feedback system should also be present so that the planners get a proper account of the achieved results and the actual target that had been set. This will also give a measure of the effectiveness of the planned program. As the first and foremost activity of the program is to make the students and the faculties aware, a proper stage is required for launching the agenda. The schools’ auditorium can be chosen for the purpose and on a time slot where all the students and the teachers will be free (Saturday afternoon likely) the announcement should be made. Audiovisual equipments would be used for making the presentation and this visual information should be available for the students when demanded. An adequate amount of supply is therefore required. Apart from the formal presentation in the first place leaflets and information documents should be supplied to each and every student individually to make sure that every person is well informed. Special care should also be taken so that the message reaches the different communities in the population. The program will include a general checkup of all the students who are residents as well as the ones who commute daily. If any of the students are found affected by the flue he or she would be under medical treatment in their home or in the university hostel and officially would not be allowed to come out till their fever subsides. In the next phase all the students would be given swine flu shots and their record will be taken. These shots will be provided for free in the first year considering the general interest of the students and the faculties. Next years onwards the students will have to pay for the shots. The following Gantt chart shows the series of activities of the duration of 5 years. Activities 1 (year) 2 (year) 3 (year) 4 (year) 5(year) Formal Announcement___ ____ _____ ____ ____ Distribution Leaflets ____ ____ _____ _____ ____ Medical _____ _______ _____ _____ ______ Checkup Reporting ______ ______ ______ ______ Giving shots __ __ __ __ Continuous Report ______________________________________________ Measuring targets __ __ __ __ __ (Source: “Gantt charts and project schedules”, 2009). The Gantt chart shows the seven set of activities which are expected to be implemented during the course of the five years. Phase 3: Establishing a System of Management: As we observe the activities and their phases it is understood that there would a certain level of work and cooperation that is required for the successful completion of the project. Though the number of students are lesser compared to other the universities depending on the total tenure and the importance of the project a strong network of association is demanded. The management team will be divided into three broad divisions. The first team will be in charge of the marketing the concept. Their duty and responsibility will include distributing the pamphlets, convincing the students and their respective guardians, making audio visual presentation in front of the students and making them understand the importance of the program. The level of management team will be dealing with more back office jobs and they would not unless necessary make public declarations. Their duty will include reporting in a continuous basis and also producing a formal report after every checkup. They will mostly do the data analysis part and will give measurements about the success rate of the project. There would be another team who will be conducting the actual coordinating work. They will find time slots where the medical experts will come and conduct their regular checkups and also will communicate with the doctors about the requirement of flu shots for each every student. Above these three set of management team there would be two to three individuals who will be monitoring their activities and will utilize these results to make strategic decisions. These two to three individuals will also be responsible for making any drastic decisions in case some emergency situation arises. Phase 4: Putting the Plans into Action: There are necessarily three main ways by which this program can be implemented. Firstly there can a pilot process implementation. As the program is continues and the tenure is also very high, it is always advisable to conduct a pilot study before the actual implementation of the program. The pilot study would be around one month and will imitate the exact Performa of the actual project that would be implemented in the long run. The pilot study will include only portion of the students but all the three divisions of management team individuals will be incorporated in the pilot study. The basic of the pilot study will be to find out whether or not the actual implementation strategies are viable in the practical scenario or not. The pilot project will also determine the actual number of resources that is required also the management team will get a chance to evaluate the entire process. The month of December, 2009 will be selected for the purpose of the pilot study. As mentioned earlier the program will be phased on the basis of the umber of offerings and activities. As it is a continuous process and will concentrate only the George Washington University campus the location will be fixed. The continuous project will include seven set of major activities and the program will be scheduled according to that. Neither of the activities will be completed until and unless the entire project is finished and the final evaluation is done. The day of inauguration that is chosen for the launch of the project is 2nd January, 2010. The actual implementation will start with the start of the New Year with a resolution to make the university campus a better place to study and live. Phase 5: Ending the Program: The program is intended to start at the beginning of the year 2010 and will end on the year 2015. Across the nations, college campuses are grappling with the surge of sick students that have symptoms of H1N1. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U of I) has witnessed above 600 cases of swine flu and adds about 30 cases each day. (ACHA, 2009). Dr. James Turner, president of the American College Health Association, has stated that it is difficult for sick college students to self-isolate themselves because “they don’t feel that terribly ill and many are highly motivated to go to class…they don’t think it’s a big deal, [so it posses] a challenge to get them to stay in their rooms for 24 hours” (Glanton, 2009). The project will likely to reduce this threat to a great extent and also side by side aims at increasing the awareness level among the students in one campus and will try and make it an example for the others. Concerns: As the project is concerned with a delicate issue like swine flue viruses there are bound to be some level of concerns associated with the project. First and fore mostly there would be legal concerns such as the liability, the informed consent and the negligence factors. Firstly the authority of the university will be the individuals who will take the responsibility and the liability of the entire project and before implementing the actual project or the pilot survey for that matter they should acquire proper legal documents. Also informed consent from each and every guardian will be required before any medical checkup or test is conducted on any student or for that matter more in the case of providing flu shots. All these information should be delivered to the students and respective authorities during the inauguration of the project. There are also certain levels of medical concerns associated with the procedure as flu shots do have several side effects. For that reason a proper certification from the local government hospital or medical center approving the project should be collected. There are other safety issues associated as if the any of the students get negatively affected some recovery plans must be there to cover that up. Cost is another important factor and considering the tenure of the project and its coverage a huge lot of fund is required. It will be advisable to take aid of any NGO or medical center that is willing to contribute to the social causes like maintaining a healthy environment for the students. After the initial two years of implementation the university authority may also look for some serious sponsors for carrying forward the project even further. The disaster management is also another issue and for any Emergency Care Plan of some serious victim the availability of medical items becomes the cause of concern. An in house medical checkup is viable once a year but this program cannot incorporate the process if regular medical treatment for any student for that matter. There are some ethical concerns which should be taken under consideration as well like non-malfeasance (not causing harm or not doing evil) and beneficence (bringing about or doing well). The right kind of message should be delivered in the initial set up of the project so that these ethical issues are being resolved. Apart from all these training for facilitators, dealing with problems, and reporting and documenting is also required. A serious training and development program of the project team is demanded as they are handling with a serious issue like swine flue. Without proper training and information the project team will be able to handle the emergency situations and will not understand the need and requirement of all the students who will be under observation for the five years in stretch. To implement this training program procedural manual and/or Participants’ Manual should be required for the management team. The project will be successful only when both the project team and the participants are well informed and well educated about the subject matter. Fear and uncertainty arises only with lesser amount of knowledge and the project will necessarily have enough backup to neutralize these concerns. References: 1. American College Health Association (ACHA). (2009). Campus Response to Novel Influenza H1N1. ACHA Guidelines, website (accessed on November 21, 2009) 2. Center of Disease Control (CDC). (2009). 2009 H1N1 flu (“Swine Flu”) and You. Website : < http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm > (accessed on November 21, 2009) 3. Center of Disease Control (CDC). (2009). CDC Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of Higher Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year. Website< http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/institutions/guidance/> (accessed on November 21, 2009) 4. Center of Disease Control (CDC). (2009). Technical report on CDC Guidance for Responses to Influenza for Institutions of High Education during the 2009-2010 Academic Year. Website :< http://cdc.gov/H1N1flu/institutions/guidance/technical.htm> (accessed on November 21, 2009) 5. Glanton, D. (2009, September 25). H1N1: No College is Immune. Chicago Tribune. Website: (accessed on November 21, 2009) 6. World Health Organization (WHO). (2009). Pandemic (H1N1) Update: 72. website (accessed on November 21, 2009) 7. “Gantt Charts and Project Schedules”. 2009. RFFlow.com. website:< http://www.rff.com/ganttcharts.htm> (accessed on November 21, 2009). 8. More than 100 U.S schools closed because of swine flu. April 30, 2009. CNN.com. website:< http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/29/swine.flu.schools/> (accessed on November 21, 2009). Read More