Hospitals test readiness for H1N1 virus pandemic

MILLCREEK — The flu season isn't here yet, but an extensive, special series of exercises Wednesday tested the state's preparedness for a potential H1N1 pandemic.

The southeast parking lot at St. Mark's Hospital was neatly marked off in bright yellow tape Wednesday morning and affixed with "Disaster drill in progress" signs.

Emergency vehicles, tents and medical supplies were everywhere.

An army of doctors, emergency personnel, police, chaplains and even morticians was at work — all wearing filter masks and other germ-protection gear — screening and treating actors, who were playing the role of patients.

In the event of a worst-case public health emergency, such as an influenza pandemic, demand for treatment may eclipse the capacity of the state's health-care system.

In order to ensure those who are most likely to benefit from medical care receive it, the Utah Department of Health has developed comprehensive guidelines for hospitals and ICUs.

These triage guidelines were tested Wednesday morning at St. Mark's and the other five MountainStar Healthcare hospitals in Utah — Lake View Hospital in Bountiful, the Ogden Regional Medical Center, the Brigham City Community Hospital, Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem and Mountain View Hospital in Payson.

MountainStar is the first health-care system to test what challenges the state triage guidelines would present when actually put into use in a hospital, and how effective they would be in ensuring health-care resources are used efficiently.

It will take some time to gather the results from the six hospitals that participated in Wednesday's drill and the state's own test, to see how successful it was.

During the drills, actors posing as patients were presented to the hospitals with varying symptoms. The medical staff at each hospital used the new guidelines to assist in making treatment decisions.

Most surprising at the St. Mark's drill were two things. First, the actors, primarily students from Provo College and Salt Lake Community College, weren't just patients. They also portrayed drunken, out-of-control family members, drug addicts and other people who could pose unusual challenges to hospital staff.

Second, there was a morgue and morticians "at work" in this drill, a rarity in most such emergency tests.