It's a record: 12,850 flu shots in 8 hours
'Flulapalooza' tests mass shot plan
Each fall, hospitals seek to vaccinate as many health care workers as possible against influenza. But what if you tried to vaccinate as many as possible in one day?
That ambitious goal won a Guinness Book of World Records spot for Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, as well as some valuable lessons for emergency response and vaccine promotion. The tally: 12,850 students, faculty, staff and medical center employees in eight hours.
"Our primary goal was to test our mass vaccination plan, which we have in place for pandemics and other biologic emergencies," says Melanie Swift, MD, medical director of the Vanderbilt Occupational Health Clinic. "We wanted to really learn what our capacity is, what our logistical needs would be."
The plan relied on speed quick set-up and the ability to move people through quickly while accommodating a high volume. "Flulapalooza" also had a marketing appeal. Students and employees alike rallied behind the quest to attain a world record. (Kaiser Permanente held the previous record of 6,215 vaccinations in eight hours.)
"We also wanted to generate enthusiasm for the flu vaccine," says Swift. "It was a morale-building kick-off for our flu vaccine this year."
Here are some of the lessons learned:
Use electronic documentation. Vanderbilt documented the vaccinations by swiping the magnetic strip of the employees' and students' ID badges. "Having the infrastructure in place so you can document electronically really helps efficiency," says Swift. "The documentation could have been an incredible nightmare. It was smooth as silk."
Buy pre-filled syringes. When you're conducting a mass vaccination, even seconds count. Vanderbilt had 44 nursing stations manned by more than 100 nurses and pharmacists throughout the day. They all used the same lot number for the vaccines which also made documentation easier.
Provide just-in-time training. Many of the vaccinators were nurse managers. Others were nursing or pharmacy students. It was important to provide some basic information about how the clinic would flow and what to do if they needed help, says Swift.
Schedule two-hour shifts. The core team of employee health and student health nurses worked 10 to 12 hours in Flulapalooza. "We learned that fatigue becomes an issue in an event of this duration," she says. "Had we needed to continue this if it was a real [emergency] event we could not have had such long shifts." The vaccinators were standing throughout their shift. Scheduling short shifts also would eliminate the need to schedule breaks. "The logistics of managing breaks on a scale like that is pretty challenging," she says.
Use a script. Vanderbilt provided vaccine information in the lobby before employees and students entered the vaccination area. Two physicians were on hand to answer questions. As they walked through the line toward the vaccination stations, the vaccine recipients were reminded to roll up their sleeves. The nurses and pharmacists followed a script, asking about egg allergy, previous Guillian-Barre Syndrome, or any other serious reactions after flu vaccine. The actual time spent at the vaccination station ranged from 20 seconds to more than 200 seconds.
Keep on vaccinating. At the end of eight hours, vaccinations didn't stop. Although they weren't part of the record-breaker, students and employees continued to receive vaccines for a couple more hours, bringing the Flulapalooza total to about 14,000. Of those, 8,585 were medical center employees. But that was still just a fraction of the 25,000 medical center employees. Many employees were not able to leave their shifts to participate in the Flulapalooza, so Vanderbilt geared up for its usual vaccine carts. A couple of days later, the medical center's annual flu vaccine campaign began. With a theme of "Stayin' Alive," they had a disco ball, fog machine and disco music in the flu tents in the medical center's central plaza.
Each fall, hospitals seek to vaccinate as many health care workers as possible against influenza. But what if you tried to vaccinate as many as possible in one day?You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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