Preparing your practice for the COVID-19 vaccine roll out. Are you ready?
We step through the key steps of the vaccination process and provide tips and resources to best prepare your practice for the vaccination rollout.
As the COVID-19 vaccination rollout progresses and vaccine stock increases, general practices will play a vital role in the delivery of the vaccine. With a collective aim of having a vaccination rate as high as possible, it is important to be prepared and ready to contribute. Having the knowledge and resources in place ensures you and your team are capable of providing the best care to your patients and are prepared for inevitable upcoming changes.
When preparing yourself and your practice, there are seven core steps to note for a patient’s COVID-19 vaccination.
- Patient screening – understanding the phases and where individuals fit in is critical to treating the correct patients at the appropriate time. The vaccine eligibility checker is a great way to determine which phase your client is likely to fall under and a rough estimate of when this phase may begin, if not right now.
- First dose – mandatory training is necessary for all vaccine providers and is also available for non-clinical and administration staff. Find more information on training requirements here. Recording consent and discovering important information about a patient’s medical history is critical when administering the vaccine. Using a HotHealth digital form allows for easy detail capture and decreases risk of misunderstanding and misprinting information.
- Provide follow up information – the Department of Health website provides a wide variety of information for patient learning and helpful visual aids.
- Enter vaccination record into Australian Immunisation Register (and relevant systems) – having the technology in place to quickly and efficiently capture client data is vital. Alongside entering information into AIR, keeping patient records for future reference is important. Having the right software to be able to manage patient notes and clinical documents assists clinicians in their ability to provide quality patient care.
- Post vaccination monitoring – having appropriate testing measures and means to contact patients provides ample opportunity for quality patient monitoring.
- Scheduling and reminder of second dose – having appropriate practice management software such as PrimaryClinic in place ensures that you can book and remind clients of their upcoming appointments and communicate with them effectively.
- Second dose – when it comes to the second dose, you have done it all before. Complete steps relevant to administering the vaccine.
Being prepared to facilitate the vaccination is imperative however having the tools, software, and resources in place for collecting data and providing helpful resources facilitates a better patient – clinician relationship.
It is important to note that when promoting and advertising the COVID-19 vaccine you must only use materials produced by the Australian Government and Australian state or territory governments. You are unable to use self-developed advertising. To learn more about what advertising is acceptable, visit the Therapeutic Goods Administration website.
More information for COVID-19 vaccination providers can be found on the Department of Health’s website here.