As first doses of COVID-19 vaccine are made available to healthcare workers, how do you decide who gets one first?

Days before the initial 6.4 million doses were to be released, hospitals across the country have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots.

Refer to your policy on influenza vaccinations as you consider whether to require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Expect to deal with many of the same exemptions—such as health concerns or religious reasons.

ECRI is gathering experts from the United Kingdom to offer insights on the distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine for a webcast scheduled at noon Eastern time on Wednesday, December 16.

“COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution & Administration—Is Your Health System Prepared?” is designed to answer how to facilities should safely handle, store, and administer the vaccine, what supplies you will need, and other lessons learned from the “front line workers in the UK where the vaccine is now being distributed.”

Below is a sample of records and documents requested during TJC triennial hospital surveys in August, according to Gayle Nash, RN, MPH, CEO of Nash Healthcare Consulting.

As of January 1, 2021, you will have one less thing to worry about: The Joint Commission (TJC) is eliminating its requirement that hospitals work toward achieving a 90% flu vaccination rate under Infection Prevention and Control standard IC.02.04.01.

That standard requires hospitals to offer a flu vaccination to its licensed independent practitioners and staff.

As we enter 2021, experts widely expect that climate change and environmental damage will take an increasing toll on health and healthcare. And as our environment changes, hospitals and clinics need to adapt as well, said Brennan Scott, CHFM, CHOP, head of surveyor development at DNV GL.

Part of this will mean updating your facility’s hazard vulnerability analysis to account for more frequent and severe events, said Scott. The other part will be training staff on how to manage multiple emergency events, such as an emergency occurring on top of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll also have to learn how to cope with emergency events happening one after another.

An emergency that impacts the community your facility serves also impacts your healthcare providers. Physicians, nurses, and other care staff have families and friends they worry about. You’ll have behavioral health patients who will be just as stressed as everyone else, and they’ll need to be properly cared for or relocated.

Mental and emotional health have always been part of emergency management, said Kelly Proctor, CHFM, CHSP, CHOP, director of operations for DNV GL Healthcare, during DNV GL’s 2020 Virtual Conference in October. But they weren’t treated as serious components until recent years.

“I think those are the things hospitals are going to have to think about going forward,” Proctor said.