Samuel McDonald1,2, Mujeeb A Basit2,3, Seth Toomay4, Christopher McLarty5, Susan Hernandez5, Chris Rubio5, Bruce J Brown5, Mark Rauschuber5, Ki Lai5, Sameh N Saleh2,6, DuWayne L Willett2,3, Christoph U Lehmann2,7, Richard J Medford2,8. 1. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 2. Clinical Informatics Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 3. Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 4. Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 5. University of Texas Southwestern Health System, Dallas, Texas, United States. 6. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 7. Departments of Pediatrics, Population & Data Sciences, and Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States. 8. Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine administration has faced distribution barriers across the United States. We sought to delineate our vaccine delivery experience in the first week of vaccine availability, and our effort to prioritize employees based on risk with a goal of providing an efficient infrastructure to optimize speed and efficiency of vaccine delivery while minimizing risk of infection during the immunization process. OBJECTIVE: This article aims to evaluate an employee prioritization/invitation/scheduling system, leveraging an integrated electronic health record patient portal framework for employee COVID-19 immunizations at an academic medical center. METHODS: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study during January 2021 at a single urban academic center. All employees who met COVID-19 allocation vaccine criteria for phase 1a.1 to 1a.4 were included. We implemented a prioritization/invitation/scheduling framework and evaluated time from invitation to scheduling as a proxy for vaccine interest and arrival to vaccine administration to measure operational throughput. RESULTS: We allotted vaccines for 13,753 employees but only 10,662 employees with an active patient portal account received an invitation. Of those with an active account, 6,483 (61%) scheduled an appointment and 6,251 (59%) were immunized in the first 7 days. About 66% of invited providers were vaccinated in the first 7 days. In contrast, only 41% of invited facility/food service employees received the first dose of the vaccine in the first 7 days (p < 0.001). At the vaccination site, employees waited 5.6 minutes (interquartile range [IQR]: 3.9-8.3) from arrival to vaccination. CONCLUSION: We developed a system of early COVID-19 vaccine prioritization and administration in our health care system. We saw strong early acceptance in those with proximal exposure to COVID-19 but noticed significant difference in the willingness of different employee groups to receive the vaccine. Thieme. All rights reserved.
BACKGROUND: Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine administration has faced distribution barriers across the United States. We sought to delineate our vaccine delivery experience in the first week of vaccine availability, and our effort to prioritize employees based on risk with a goal of providing an efficient infrastructure to optimize speed and efficiency of vaccine delivery while minimizing risk of infection during the immunization process. OBJECTIVE: This article aims to evaluate an employee prioritization/invitation/scheduling system, leveraging an integrated electronic health record patient portal framework for employee COVID-19 immunizations at an academic medical center. METHODS: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study during January 2021 at a single urban academic center. All employees who met COVID-19 allocation vaccine criteria for phase 1a.1 to 1a.4 were included. We implemented a prioritization/invitation/scheduling framework and evaluated time from invitation to scheduling as a proxy for vaccine interest and arrival to vaccine administration to measure operational throughput. RESULTS: We allotted vaccines for 13,753 employees but only 10,662 employees with an active patient portal account received an invitation. Of those with an active account, 6,483 (61%) scheduled an appointment and 6,251 (59%) were immunized in the first 7 days. About 66% of invited providers were vaccinated in the first 7 days. In contrast, only 41% of invited facility/food service employees received the first dose of the vaccine in the first 7 days (p < 0.001). At the vaccination site, employees waited 5.6 minutes (interquartile range [IQR]: 3.9-8.3) from arrival to vaccination. CONCLUSION: We developed a system of early COVID-19 vaccine prioritization and administration in our health care system. We saw strong early acceptance in those with proximal exposure to COVID-19 but noticed significant difference in the willingness of different employee groups to receive the vaccine. Thieme. All rights reserved.
Authors: Grace E Pryor; Kelsea Marble; Ferdinand T Velasco; Christoph U Lehmann; Mujeeb A Basit Journal: Appl Clin Inform Date: 2021-08-18 Impact factor: 2.762
Authors: Richard J Medford; Sameh N Saleh; Andrew Sumarsono; Trish M Perl; Christoph U Lehmann Journal: Open Forum Infect Dis Date: 2020-06-30 Impact factor: 3.835
Authors: Sameh N Saleh; Christoph U Lehmann; Samuel A McDonald; Mujeeb A Basit; Richard J Medford Journal: Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol Date: 2020-08-06 Impact factor: 3.254
Authors: Jeffrey V Lazarus; Scott C Ratzan; Adam Palayew; Lawrence O Gostin; Heidi J Larson; Kenneth Rabin; Spencer Kimball; Ayman El-Mohandes Journal: Nat Med Date: 2020-10-20 Impact factor: 53.440