Pandemic: Most health workers to stay home

BIRMINGHAM, England, May 14 (UPI) -- As many as 85 percent of healthcare workers in Britain may stay home from work in the event of a influenza pandemic, a survey indicates.

The survey, published in the journal BMC Public Health, suggests that levels of absenteeism may be significantly higher than official estimates and that willingness rather than ability plays the largest role in healthcare workers' decisions to go to work.

University of Birmingham researchers says 1,032 healthcare workers responded to questionnaire about the factors that may influence their decision to go to work during an influenza pandemic.

The survey responses suggest that the likelihood of working may differ by job type, with doctors were more likely to say they would go to work and nurses as well as ancillary staff more likely to say they would stay home.

Workers with children or elderly family members would be more likely to be absent from work if influenza illness at home -- or the possibility of it -- became a worry. Workers were also concerned about having to take on duties for which they felt they hadn't been trained, being asked to work at a different location, working with untrained people or fears of possible litigation if mistakes were made while working under abnormal conditions, the survey says.