The second survey was conducted in May 2009 when the WHO pandemic influenza alert level assigned to H1N1 influenza (swine flu) was phase 5. Phase 5 signifies human to human spread of the virus into at least two countries within one WHO region. Although most countries are not affected at this stage, the declaration of phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise the organisation, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short. 1 During this phase 5 period, we repeated our questionnaires in the three specialties in one hospital. All questionnaires were collected within two weeks, before the announcement of phase 6 by the WHO.