RESUMO
BACKGROUND: For the preparation of pandemic influenza, Japan's government requested to set up a high-fever consultation center at each prefectural and city government. During the initial period of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) outbreak in Japan, high-fever consultation centers received a great number of calls. The effectiveness of this system, however, has not been fully evaluated. This study reports the result of a qualitative study, which explored officers who provided the high-fever consultation center during influenza outbreak. METHODS: A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews (n=3), was conducted to the officers of a major city government in Japan, who provided the service. Theory construction was conducted with a use of structure construction qualitative research method. RESULTS: The officers expressed many difficulties during the outbreak. The uncertainty of the disease characteristics, rapidly changing situation, fear of bad outcome of patients due to wrong triage, and miscommunications among health care workers were among the difficulties extracted. While inefficiency was among the problems extracted, lessening anxiety of callers was one of the achievements they felt the high-fever consultation center provided. Development of practical manual made their provision of the service easier.
