Pozner Jonathan, Winslow James, Schinde Sachi, Patel Mehul D, Grover Joseph M
Department of Emergency Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
North Carolina Office of EMS.
Prehosp Emerg Care. 2023;27(3):293-296. doi: 10.1080/10903127.2022.2053014. Epub 2022 Apr 12.
The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the vaccination of large numbers of people across the United States, mobilizing public health resources on a massive scale. The purpose of this study is to determine how emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians and agencies in North Carolina have been utilized in these vaccination efforts. This retrospective survey was sent to EMS medical directors and EMS system administrators for all 100 county EMS systems in North Carolina. Participation was voluntary, and survey questions asked about the contribution of EMS systems to vaccination efforts, the levels of EMS clinicians being utilized, the activities carried out by those clinicians, and any identifiable barriers to EMS involvement in COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Ninety-eight of the 100 counties in North Carolina responded to the survey, with 88 contributing to vaccination efforts in the communities. Reasons cited by the 10 counties for not being involved in vaccination efforts include: county health departments not needing assistance (two counties), vaccine hesitancy amongst clinicians and the politicization of COVID (three counties), inadequate staffing (one county), and the presence of "robust vaccination clinics" in the community (one county). An additional 12 counties listed staffing shortages as limiting their vaccination efforts. Among the counties supporting vaccine efforts, activities included planning and logistics (54 counties), non-medical roles (38 counties), vaccine preparation (35 counties), medical screening pre-vaccination (41 counties), vaccine administration (74 counties), medical observation post-vaccination (79 counties), and home vaccinations (53 counties). Of the 74 counties that used EMS personnel in vaccine administration, 27 used EMTs (37%), 36 used Advanced EMTs (49%), and 73 used Paramedics (99%). This study demonstrates the large role that EMS clinicians and systems have played and continue to play in COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the state of North Carolina, including planning and logistics, patient screening and observation, vaccine preparation and administration, and home vaccination. Furthermore, it supports the expanded use of EMTs as a potential vaccination workforce. As the public health response to this pandemic continues, EMS clinicians and systems are a valuable resource to their communities and states.
新冠疫情使得美国各地大量民众需要接种疫苗，从而大规模调动了公共卫生资源。本研究的目的是确定北卡罗来纳州的紧急医疗服务（EMS）临床医生和机构在这些疫苗接种工作中是如何被利用的。这项回顾性调查被发送给北卡罗来纳州所有100个县急救医疗服务系统的急救医疗主任和急救医疗系统管理人员。参与是自愿的，调查问题涉及急救医疗服务系统对疫苗接种工作的贡献、所使用的急救医疗服务临床医生的级别、这些临床医生开展的活动，以及急救医疗服务参与新冠疫苗接种工作的任何可识别障碍。北卡罗来纳州100个县中有98个对调查做出了回应，其中88个在社区疫苗接种工作中做出了贡献。10个未参与疫苗接种工作的县给出的理由包括：县卫生部门不需要援助（2个县）、临床医生对疫苗的犹豫态度以及新冠疫情的政治化（3个县）、人员配备不足（1个县），以及社区存在“强大的疫苗接种诊所”（1个县）。另外12个县将人员短缺列为限制其疫苗接种工作的因素。在支持疫苗接种工作的县中，活动包括规划和后勤（54个县）、非医疗角色（38个县）、疫苗准备（35个县）、接种前医疗筛查（41个县）、疫苗接种（74个县）、接种后医疗观察（79个县）以及上门接种（53个县）。在74个在疫苗接种中使用急救医疗服务人员的县中，27个使用了急救医疗技术员（EMT，占37%），36个使用了高级急救医疗技术员（占49%），73个使用了护理人员（占99%）。本研究表明，急救医疗服务临床医生和系统在北卡罗来纳州的新冠疫苗接种工作中已经并将继续发挥重要作用，包括规划和后勤、患者筛查和观察、疫苗准备和接种以及上门接种。此外，它支持扩大使用急救医疗技术员作为潜在的疫苗接种劳动力。随着对这一疫情的公共卫生应对措施的持续推进，急救医疗服务临床医生和系统对其社区和州来说是宝贵的资源。
