Table 1.

Interview guide.

Staff perceptions and concerns	1. Tell me about how your Department manages seasonal influenza?  a. How does your ED manage surges of presentations?
	2. How do you think an influenza pandemic might alter the way you deliver nursing care in your ED?  a. The Ministry of Health and District Health Boards (DHB) require EDs to continue managing their normal workload as well as manage the surge of influenza patients during a pandemic. How do you see this working in your ED?  b. What strategies do you feel might be needed for your ED to manage the increased workload during a pandemic?  c. Another part of the Ministry of Health's pandemic plan involved keeping unwell people in the community to be cared for at home by family members. If you had a sick family member, how do you think this would affect your family?
Presenteeism	3. Tell me about how you decide when to call in sick to work?  a. What are your feelings when calling in sick?  b. How does workload in the ED impact on your decisions?
Infection control	4. When do you decide to implement isolation precautions for a patient with influenza-like illness (ILI)?  a. Are there any factors that influence this decision?
Triage practices and principles	5. How do you manage patients that might have influenza at triage?  a. The hospital requires patients presenting with ILI to be given a mask and segregated from non-ILI patients within the ED waiting room. How is this requirement met in your ED?  b. A major part of the Ministry of Health and hospital plans for pandemic management requires ED nurses to triage lower-acuity ILI patients away from ED to GPs or community-based assessment centres. How do you feel about triaging patients away from ED during a pandemic?
Occupational exposure to infectious disease	6. There are many identified risks to caring for infectious patients. What are the specific risks in your ED when caring for influenza patients?  a. How well are these risks managed?