PVH Chief Nursing Officer Donna Poduska is one of the first of the senior management team to get an employee-required flu vaccination in 2014.
The bright, sunny, end-of-summer weather gives little indication of the winter days ahead. But be aware: Flu season looms once again.
During the upcoming influenza season, University of Colorado Health will likely see hundreds of hospital admissions and thousands of sick patients at emergency and primary care locations.
For some UCHealth leaders and staff, preparations for influenza have taken up a good part of the summer. It can be no other way. Protecting patients, family members, staff and providers from the flu is a top priority.
For a fourth consecutive year, the system must comply with a state mandate that all health care workers receive vaccinations against the virus. That means gearing up to ensure that some 15,000 UCHealth employees get flu shots. All physicians, residents, midlevel providers, contractors, and volunteers will also need vaccinations.
Absent a medical or religious exemption, employees who fail to comply with the vaccination requirement cannot work at UCHealth. Deborah Jones, the system’s director of Employee Health and Well Being, said UCHealth will meet the vaccination requirement in two phases. First, those who have not complied with the policy by Dec. 8 will receive a written warning from Human Resources that will be placed in their personnel files. However, employees and their managers will receive periodic email reminders prior to that date, Jones added. Then, those who have not complied by December 15 will either be terminated or lose their hospital privileges.
The system will provide free walk-in flu-shot clinics in each region beginning Oct. 5 and running through Nov. 13, Jones said. The schedules will be posted on the Source starting Sept. 28. Staff who use the clinics or receive the shots on their units will immediately receive a mint-green sticker affixed to their badges to show they have met the requirement.
Employees who choose to get their shots at a primary-care provider or a community site like Walgreens or King Soopers must submit the documentation to Employee Health and Wellness prior to the cut-off date to receive the sticker and show compliance with the policy. Starting this year, Jones said, staffers and physicians can also submit the documentation online, then pick up the sticker before the deadline.
Those who have a valid exemption will be required to wear a mask when they have direct patient contact or are in areas where patients and visitors congregate, such as waiting areas and cafeterias.
Dr. Michelle Barron, medical director for infection prevention and control at University of Colorado Hospital, said UCHealth ordered vaccine from two different manufacturers to ensure an adequate supply. The vaccine protects against two strains of type A influenza and two strains of type B. Some of the vaccine has been delivered already, she added.
Signs of the season
The importance of receiving the vaccination is highlighted by the number of flu cases the hospital treated last flu season. Barron said UCH had 228 influenza hospitalizations between November 2014 and April 2015, up sharply from 145 for the same period the year before. Eight patient deaths at UCH were attributable to the flu last season, compared with four the previous year. But last flu season was also milder, Barron said. The average length of stay for flu patients was three to five days versus eight days in 2013-2014.
“Every year is different in terms of its severity,” Barron said. That’s why it’s important to get a flu shot every year, she added. “If you don’t, you’re kind of playing Russian roulette.”
As another indication of flu’s unpredictability, Barron noted that last season contained two phases. Type A infections peaked quickly, with many hospitalizations at UCH. But more than 50 people were hospitalized in March and April with flu caused by strains of type B – an unusually high number.
Keeping the guard up
Last season offered fodder for vaccine critics because the vaccine wasn’t a great match for the virus strains that wound up infecting even some of those who had gotten the shot. But Barron pointed out that data show that the illness is less severe and of shorter duration in people who have been vaccinated – and they are less likely to be hospitalized with secondary complications.
“You still have some level of protection,” she said. Besides, she added, the mismatch of last season isn’t cause to avoid getting vaccinated.
“We prepare the best we can and institute safety measures,” she said. “But just because there are holes, you don’t throw out the whole system.”
She drew a comparison with auto manufacturers installing seat belts and airbags. The equipment is designed to mitigate the damage from accidents. If people still get injured in accidents, it doesn’t mean the solution is to take the protective devices out of the cars, Barron said.
“No system is perfect, and we can never say with certainty what is going to happen,” she said.
Almost perfect, however, was UCHealth’s compliance with the flu shot policy. Last year, nearly 100 percent of UCHealth employees received the vaccine or were granted a medical or religious exemption, Jones said. Just two were terminated for non-compliance.
This article was written by Tyler Smith, editor of Insider Central at University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora.
