FluLabSurge

RESOURCE DESCRIPTION

FluLabSurge is a public planning tool that forecasts pandemic influenza testing laboratory surge capacity requirements, capacity shortfalls, and resource needs, based on historic pandemic influenza scenarios. It is developed and maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and primarily intended for use by laboratory directors to assist in developing pandemic influenza response plans. It consists of three models which work together to determine the capacity needed by the lab, the capacity available to the lab, and the sampling resources the lab needs to stock to ensure that capacity is met. The Workload Demand model predicts the number of tests sent to labs per day of the pandemic. This estimate is based on historic pandemic influenza scenarios (the 1918 and 1968 pandemics), but the underlying epidemiological, healthcare, and laboratory sampling parameters can be customized as needed. The Laboratory Capacity model determines whether the surge capacity needs estimated by the Workload Demand model can be met by the laboratory. Default parameters can be customized by the user for the number of staff available to perform laboratory work, and the number of samples the laboratory equipment can process in a given amount of time. The model results include average samples processed per shift, day, and week, and whether or not this capacity meets the surge scenario’s requirements. The effects of adding additional personnel, additional sampling equipment, or adjusting sampling speed can also be analyzed. The Pandemic Planning model calculates the resources, such as gloves and enzyme kits, that will be needed to support the capacity defined by the Laboratory Capacity model results. Results include the average and maximum estimated laboratory sample processing resources needed.

BROAD DATA CATEGORIES

• Health

SPECIFIC DATA ELEMENTS

• Disease outbreak (natural)
• Flu