Blue Ribbon Abstract Award: Use of an Annual Influenza Vaccination Campaign To Test Bioemergency Preparedness

ISSUE: One measure of hospital preparedness is the ability to respond to a bioemergency. Components of a response include the ability to efficiently mass vaccinate or provide prophylaxis to susceptible health care workers (HCWʹs). We wanted to test our ability to rapidly immunize HCWʹs using various methods. PROJECT: Our Disaster Emergency Group designed a drill to use the Annual Influenza Vaccination Campaign to test our ability to vaccinate 70% of direct patient care providers over 6 days. We tested our Mass Immunization/Prophylaxis Plan for Employees by using a scenario that required staff to respond to actual events and to implement decisions in real-time. A potential influenza pandemic scenario and plan was presented to the hospital emergency incident command system (HEICS). The proposed plan focused on the following components: communication, education and promotion, dispensing strategies, and real-time data collection. Dispensing strategies included using the Employee Health Clinic, a peer vaccination program, and mobile vaccination teams. RESULTS: 54% of direct patient care givers were immunized during the drill. Groups with the highest compliance were physicians 58%, residents and fellows 65%, and nurses 58%. Groups with lower vaccination rates were Radiology 43%, Pharmacy 42%, and Housekeeping 33%. During the drill peer vaccinators delivered 82% of vaccine, while Employee Health Clinic delivered 12% and mobile vaccination teams delivered 6%. 41% of vaccine given during the campaign was given in the first 2 days of the drill. LESSONS LEARNED: We learned that the peer vaccination strategy was very effective, but we need to improve information management systems so that we can identify staff that have direct patient contact in the event that we must quickly prioritize staff who should be vaccinated or given prophylaxis. We need to develop systems that allow us to collect real-time data so we can track those vaccinated and not vaccinated. This drill allowed us to use HEICS to optimize a routine annual influenza vaccination program in a life-like scenario and to increase support among staff and leadership. In addition, this drill demonstrated the importance of influenza vaccinations to hospital leadership and is now an institutional priority for the next year. We feel this is a drill format that others might consider for preparedness activities.