Will administering the COVID-19 vaccines to over 200 million Americans require the crowd control you see at large events? Although the massive security detail necessary for the Super Bowl won’t be required, managing the COVID-19 vaccine patient workflow might be more complex. There are numerous challenges to consider.

Managing The COVID-19 Patient Workflow

For example, a Super Bowl is played in a specific stadium with a known amount of fans assigned to specific seats that can gain entry to the event over the span of a few hours. If you want to show up at the prime entry time, no worries, just a longer wait in line. And, no social distancing necessary. But even though the people staging for vaccinations will be much smaller, other issues increase the complexity.

First, because vaccines will be administered in disparate locations ranging from a physician’s office to schools, community buildings and parks, there is no one size fits all process you can implement. Plus, minimizing the potential transmission of the virus requires limiting crowds, ensuring social distancing and enacting other strategies like providing specific appointment times and separate vaccination areas for people at risk.

Second, it requires stepping each patient through a checklist to make sure they don’t have a preexisting condition that puts them at risk. For example, adverse reactions to previous shots or vaccines may exclude them from the COVID vaccine or increase the importance of post shot observation. But, for an allergy like one for latex, a simple Latex Allergy label will help the healthcare practitioner take appropriate precautions. Further, before receiving the vaccine, people may want to learn more about it and the potential side effects. Vaccine information data sheets from the CDC explain the benefits and risks.

Lastly, this is also the time to schedule an appointment for the second dose. Follow up appointment cards are typically part of the McKesson supply kits. You can also get customized appointment labels using the UAL site. Additional pre vaccine workflow considerations:

• Employ sufficient staff and resources to help move patients through the COVID-19 vaccine patient workflow as quickly as possible.
• Direct people and ensure physical distancing between them using social distancing signs, ropes, or other measures.
• Make sure you stage appointments so the monitoring area doesn’t become a choke point.

Finally, it’s essential to implement a process to manage observation wait times for patients who have received the vaccine. A time stamp label will allow your staff to follow observation time periods and easily see when wait times expire.

United Ad Label

These COVID-19 vaccine patient workflow tips will help you effectively manage patient administration. United Ad Label supplies stock and custom labels that allow healthcare organizations to safely store and handle COVID-19 vaccines. Contact us to learn more.