Washington hospitals ‘optimistic’ ahead of deadline for health care worker vaccine mandate
Oct 5, 2021, 5:16 AM
Nurses plan patient care at the nurses station in the acute care COVID unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) says health worker vaccination rates are rising as the COVID vaccine mandate deadline draws closer.
Monday, Oct. 4, was the last day for health workers to get their second Pfizer or Moderna dose, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, if they want to avoid losing their jobs.
So far, some of the state’s larger hospitals say the mandate is working.
“Before the mandate went in place, I think we were at about 86% of our caregivers who were fully vaccinated,” said Kristi Carrington, regional chief nursing officer at Swedish Hospital. “And as of [Monday], we’re at 92%. So you can see, that shift has occurred with the mandate.”
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Carrington said they expected about 99% of people to be in compliance when it is all said and done — either to be vaccinated, or to have a legitimate exemption.
“It’s less than a half a percent, so it’s very few numbers — I think a total of 37,” Carrington said. “If you think about that in the grand scheme of how many caregivers we have, … we’re optimistic.”
Dr. Michael Myint, physician executive for MultiCare, added that they were having a similarly good turnout, with more than 90% of staffers fully vaccinated.
WSHA Executive Vice President Taya Briley said based on what she has heard from hospitals around Washington, she is “cautiously optimistic” about health worker vaccination rates, though she noted that early survey results are showing that those rates tend to be a little lower in rural hospitals.
Still, Briley believes those hospitals shouldn’t lose enough staff after the health worker vaccination deadline on Oct. 18 to cause major problems.
“While there are likely to be some service closures and reductions, overall, we believe that services will remain open,” she said. “The real challenge is going to be if there’s another surge, or there are other stressors on the health care system.”
Instead of those services stopping altogether, Briley predicts we could see hospitals limiting the number of patients they can take in certain units.
She is most concerned, however, over EMS staffing levels after the vaccine mandate.
The good news is that the federal government is sending in reinforcements through national health worker staffing agency ACI Healthcare to help Washington.
“The state will then work with hospitals to direct where the staff go,” Briley said.
Priority will be given to those hospitals that have had the biggest trouble finding room for patients, and have had to repeatedly transfer them through the state’s central coordinating organization.
“The Washington Medical Coordination Center was consulted on the highest-need hospitals in terms of staffing, based in part on the need that they have had to reach out to the Washington Medical Coordination Center to request assistance in placing patients,” Briley said.
The staff members being brought in may also serve in long-term care facilities.
“As we see the effects of the vaccine requirement, we’re really going to need to get those staff deployed to where they’re needed most,” Briley said.
WSHA expects that more concrete numbers about health worker vaccination will be available next week that should shed an even clearer light on what to expect with staffing in the coming month.
