Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic’s early vaccination stage required health department staff to work long, odd hours to accommodate the needs of Georgia residents. This presented a challenge since some health departments only have 2-3 full-time nurses. District 2 hired a pool of PRN nurses to cover significant gaps in workforce throughout multiple vaccination phases of the pandemic response. This additional workforce allowed District 2 to maximize number of vaccine doses given.
During later COVID vaccination phases (summer 2021 – present), PRNs allowed health departments to resume regular services alongside high vaccination capacity. With various funding sources, District 2 used the PRNs for mpox vaccinations during the 2022 outbreak and to assist with seasonal services such as flu clinics, scoliosis screenings, and school immunization audits. In addition, PRNs covered staff shortages during turnover in multiple health departments.
This presentation will provide a model for maintaining a PRN workforce on a district administrative level while enabling county-level direct supervision. In the new district-led process, county managers submit event information which district staff use to create a signup form online. Notifications are sent to the district’s PRN team for newly created events or understaffed events throughout the district. Finally, the presentation will show standards of certification to allow greater independence of PRNs working in vaccination clinics as well as discuss the cost of the program and sustainability of PRN usage outside of grant funding.
During this project’s performance period, District 2 experienced ~5% increase in our district’s total influenza vaccine doses given from the previous flu season (August – November). Online tools were used to staff over 40 clinics throughout the flu season. District 2 plans to utilize this method moving forward for various public health services, as long as funding exists to maintain the PRN workforce.
Keywords
staffing, PRN, nurses, pandemic, vaccination, district, events
Included in
Staffing Up for a Pandemic and Beyond: Utilizing a PRN Nursing Pool
The COVID-19 pandemic’s early vaccination stage required health department staff to work long, odd hours to accommodate the needs of Georgia residents. This presented a challenge since some health departments only have 2-3 full-time nurses. District 2 hired a pool of PRN nurses to cover significant gaps in workforce throughout multiple vaccination phases of the pandemic response. This additional workforce allowed District 2 to maximize number of vaccine doses given.
During later COVID vaccination phases (summer 2021 – present), PRNs allowed health departments to resume regular services alongside high vaccination capacity. With various funding sources, District 2 used the PRNs for mpox vaccinations during the 2022 outbreak and to assist with seasonal services such as flu clinics, scoliosis screenings, and school immunization audits. In addition, PRNs covered staff shortages during turnover in multiple health departments.
This presentation will provide a model for maintaining a PRN workforce on a district administrative level while enabling county-level direct supervision. In the new district-led process, county managers submit event information which district staff use to create a signup form online. Notifications are sent to the district’s PRN team for newly created events or understaffed events throughout the district. Finally, the presentation will show standards of certification to allow greater independence of PRNs working in vaccination clinics as well as discuss the cost of the program and sustainability of PRN usage outside of grant funding.
During this project’s performance period, District 2 experienced ~5% increase in our district’s total influenza vaccine doses given from the previous flu season (August – November). Online tools were used to staff over 40 clinics throughout the flu season. District 2 plans to utilize this method moving forward for various public health services, as long as funding exists to maintain the PRN workforce.
