The Employee Health & Wellness Services team deserves special recognition for their success in keeping the UM Shore Regional Health community — including staff, volunteers, patients and visitors — safe and healthy now that flu season is in full swing, says Susan Coe, senior vice president, Human Resources and chief experience officer.
In August, 2016, Employee Health Services staff met with a group of directors and managers throughout the system to get their feedback on the 2015 program. The group approved two major changes for 2016: shorten the vaccine period to six weeks and discontinue using the ID Badge stickers.
“The program was given a boost when funds were allocated in the capital budget to purchase hand-held scanners so that data could be captured electronically and transferred to UMMS to populate the compliance reports,” says Nancy Bedell, RN, manager, Employee Health & Wellness Services. “This saved us from having to input over 2500 data entries and significantly improved the timeliness and accuracy of the reports.
During September, clinics and off site visits were scheduled, rooms booked, per diem staff scheduled, Auxiliary volunteers and nursing students recruited, supplies ordered, announcements prepared. The new scanners had to be configured for Shore Regional Health and the employee health nurses — had to be trained to work with both the scanners and Lawson. Spreadsheets for medical staff and the Auxiliaries were formatted to capture their data. And there was the annual anxiety about the vaccine arriving on time!
“October 5, the day of the first clinic, arrived and we were off,” Bedell recalls. “The challenge was for three of us — Pat Steele, Stacy Truitt and myself — to vaccinate (or verify vaccination of) 3,000 people in six weeks. And we did it, with the help of per diem nurses Debra Sadler, Cindy Gullion, Mickee Roser and Andrea Shoener who gave as much time as they could.”
Clinic days were long — from 5:30 a.m. for set up until 6 p.m. During the vaccine campaign, 3,000 pieces of paper were collected, collated and filed, and 3,000 data entries were made into Respond (the SRH EHS system) and uploaded to UMMS. The phone rang nonstop with inquiries about where and when the vaccines were to be given.
Was it worth it? Says Bedell, “Absolutely! One hundred percent of our doctors and staff have had their flu shots and only vaccinated Auxiliary members are now working.”
Adds Coe, “Getting all of our team members vaccinated so smoothly – and in a much shorter time period than in previous years – was an amazing accomplishment by our Employee Health Services team. They deserve great credit for their success in scheduling the clinics, recruiting volunteer help, managing new technologies and putting in really long days over a six week period. Great job!”
“Of course, we couldn’t have done without a lot of help,” notes Bedell, who expressed special thanks to:
- The hospital Auxiliary members who helped EHS staff register people at the Clinics
- Chesapeake College nursing students — EHS could not have handled the clinic volume without the students.
- Tanya Gross, HR, for her patience in training EHs staff on the Lawson system.
- Norm Washburn and John Moulton — The scanners arrived at the last minute and Norm and John were wonderful about getting them set up and ready to use in time.
- Cherelyn Copper-Giles and everyone in Pharmacy for dealing with EHS staff anxiety and being sure the vaccine supply was available when and where it was needed.
- Shirley Morris and her team for getting supplies to EHS almost instantly.
- UM Community Medical Group (UM CMG) management for their patience with the reporting issues due to a “glitch” in the system.
Says Bedell, “Our goal is to improve the program every year. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the 2017 Flu Vaccine program, please let us know. And thanks for getting your flu shot!”