One Year Later: What Have We Learned from H1N1?

Van Gorder adds he "always urges quiet but consistent preparation for disasters —especially when it appears as if the situation—like a pandemic—can be a rolling type of situation."

At least last year, the CDC "absolutely did not" overreact with its warnings, says Caryn Staib, emergency management director for Banner Health, a 22-hospital system headquartered in Phoenix.

"Given that there was a lot of uncertainty in the beginning about what this virus was, how it would react, and how deadly it would be, the steps they took were appropriate," she says. "Part of the reason [the outbreak] ended up being relatively mild is because of the steps they took, developing the vaccine with speed. We were able to stop a pandemic in its tracks."

Of course hospital precautions helped, she says. Banner ramped up the use of hand sanitizer, barred children under 12—the major transmitters and carriers of H1N1—from major patient care areas and restricted visitation, and encouraged employees to stay home if they felt sick. These were all moves she believes helped keep the number of serious cases relatively low.

Health workers were encouraged to receive vaccinations through incentive programs; for example, the unit that had the most workers vaccinated won a pizza party, she recalls.

However, improving communication about the priorities for vaccine distribution, and augmenting personal protection equipment stockpiles, are goals for the future.