LITTLE ROCK — Some medical providers in Northwest Arkansas are encouraging patients with mild symptoms of suspected influenza to call first and avoid simply showing up at a clinic or emergency room.
A doctor's visit won't necessarily help and could help spread flu or other illnesses, said the health officials, who have noticed an increase in cases within the past three weeks.
Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas issued a news release Wednesday headlined: "Flu-like Symptoms not an Automatic ER Visit."
The system, which operates Mercy Medical Center in Rogers, cited reasons that include ensuring its emergency room can remain focused on true emergencies.
A system spokesman, Kyle Weaver, said Wednesday that the hospital emergency room's non-emergent care section is trying to prevent a situation where it becomes overwhelmed.
"We are seeing people come to the ER with illnesses more suited for the clinic setting than an emergency-medicine setting," he said.
Mercy officials suggest that patients request an appointment with their primary care doctor or at least call ahead.
At the Pat Walker Health Center at the University ofArkansas in Fayetteville, its chief agreed.
"Good advice," said the center's executive director, Mary Alice Serafini. " They'llget the flu if they go to the ER.
"That's why we're doing so much phone triage."
This week, the UA center noticed an uptick in cases of influenza-type illness and inquiries.
"We were flooded with phone calls," Serafini said. The health center has added staff to handle the extra calls as well as two parttime doctors to help the clinic's existing providers.
On Monday and Tuesday, the center had 142 phone calls, most of which involved inquiries about suspected flu symptoms. Of those, 28 patients who came to the clinic were diagnosed with flu and 35 who called but did not come tothe clinic reported flu-like symptoms.
That is in addition to the 110 "influenza-type illnesses" the center already reported to the Arkansas Department of Health since the beginning of the fall semester, Serafini said. Wednesday, the calls continued.
This year's flu pandemic emerged globally months ahead of the regular "seasonal" flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially called it a swine flu. The CDC later began referring to it as the "novel H1N1 virus," in part because it contains a mix of pig, avian and human genes.
Officials at Mercy and UA noted that the CDC and state Health Department stopped testing for this year's swine flu a few weeks ago, with the exception of the most severe cases, but that the current cases are not believed to be seasonal flu.
"If someone calls in with flu symptoms, the assumption is that it's H1N1 flu because it's too early in the season for regular flu," UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said.
Mercy officials cited other reasons they are discouraging patients from automatically coming into its emergency room.
Dr. Brad Johnson, an emergency room physician at Mercy who also is the system's vice president of emergency services, said a patient with a mild case of flu could spread it to others, in addition to exposing himself to more severe illnesses.
By federal law, emergency rooms can't turn patients away, so they're often the first stop for those without a primary care physician.
But Johnson noted that Mercy Doctor Finder can help patients speed up the search, at (888) 338-3885.
Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville has seen more cases.
"We've had a steady flow of flu patients, and it's increasing," spokesman Terry Fox said. "They're assuming it's H1N1."
Northwest Health System's hospitals in Springdale and Bentonville have experienced a slight increase in cases, spokesman Greg Russell said.
Ed Barham, a spokesman for the state Health Department, estimated Arkansas has thousands of cases, but added, "There's no way to count this."
It's a mild illness, he said, and expensive antiviral drugslike Tamiflu are effective only within 24 to 48 hours of onset of symptoms. Use after that not only is ineffective but could cause the flu bug to mutate more quickly to foil the drugs.
Without a specific test, "a clinical diagnosis is enoughto tell someone to go get rest and liquids," Barham said.
This year's swine flu is easily spread but not virulent.
"Most people are getting better within three to five days, and some even faster than that," he said. "So far, it's a very mild illness."
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11, 13 on 09/24/2009