Five Key Elements of SCF’s Vaccine Rollout for Employees

With COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States, health care organizations across the country have placed a priority on providing vaccinations to employees, both for their own protection and the protection of the customers they serve. Southcentral Foundation is in the process of vaccinating employees and has now rolled out the vaccine for customer-owners as well. In this process, SCF has discovered several elements that have worked well.

DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES: To see and download documents, such as SCF’s vaccine clinic flyers and guides, visit our Document Resource Library.

Following are five key elements of SCF’s rollout of the vaccine for employees:

1. Vaccine Chats. These live virtual sessions are hosted by SCF’s leadership and medical professionals. They are open to all employees and provide a forum for SCF to communicate information about the vaccine, and for employees to ask questions about it. They are held weekly so regular updates are available to employees. SCF also used other communication methods, such as email announcements and hashtags, to spread awareness.
2. Employee Incentives. SCF has implemented incentives, both for employees to get vaccinated, and to assist with vaccine clinics. SCF is offering bonus leave time to employees who get the first dose of the vaccine in the month of January. And employees who assist in the vaccine clinics are eligible for overtime pay—even if they are salaried employees who would not normally receive overtime pay.
3. Use of Both Clinical and Non-Clinical Employees. The task of providing vaccination to thousands of individuals requires the collaboration of many. Non-clinical employees have been trained to conduct tasks such as checking individuals in for vaccine, ensuring cleaning of supplies and spaces in between each individual, setting appointments for second dose vaccines, ensuring adequate medical supply inventory, and an array of various other non-clinical tasks that allow clinical employees to focus on vaccine administration. Non-clinical employee types who have supported this process have been improvement staff, administrative support, quality specialists, health education employees, family health resource employees, and others.
4. Centralized Throughput. SCF opened a centralized clinic that is only used for vaccinations to maximize the number of people who can be vaccinated each day. The space is optimized with three separate areas: a check-in station where employees fill out a brief questionnaire (see questionnaire in our document library); a vaccine area; and a waiting area with chairs six feet apart, medical personnel monitoring small groups, and ambient music and videos.
5. Self-Scheduling App. SCF launched an app for employees to use to schedule themselves for vaccinations, improving access and decreasing the need for health care support staff to schedule appointments.

All of these factors and more have contributed to a smooth rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine at SCF, with employees continuing to be vaccinated along with customer-owners. For more information about how SCF is handling the COVID-19 vaccine, please contact the SCF Learning Institute.