Original Study
COVID-19 Vaccination in VA Home Based Primary Care: Experience of Interdisciplinary Team Members

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2022.03.014Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

Describe how Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) team members discussed the COVID-19 vaccine with Veteran patients and their caregivers; describe HBPC team members' experiences providing care during the pandemic; identify facilitators and barriers to vaccinating HBPC Veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design

Online survey that included 3 open-ended COVID-19 vaccine-related questions.

Setting and Participants

HBPC Program Directors from 145 VA Medical Centers were invited to participate and share the survey invitation with team members. The survey was open from March to May 2021. We collected N = 573 surveys from 73 sites.

Methods

We analyzed demographic data using descriptive frequencies and open-ended questions using thematic analysis.

Results

Respondents from all HBPC roles were included in the study: Registered Nurses, Psychologists, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers, Dieticians, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists, Physical Therapists, HBPC Program Directors, HBPC Medical Directors, MDs, Physician Assistants, Other. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed 3 themes describing VA HBPC team members' experiences discussing and administering the COVID-19 vaccine: communication and education, advocating for prioritization of HBPC Veterans to receive the vaccine, and logistics of delivering and administering the vaccine.

Conclusions and Implications

Our study findings highlight the multifaceted experiences of VA HBPC team members discussing and administering initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to primarily homebound Veterans. Although the VA's HBPC program offers an example of a singular health care system, insights from more than 70 sites from across the United States reveal key lessons around the internal and external structures required to successfully support programs and their staff in providing these key activities. These lessons include proactively addressing the needs of homebound populations in national vaccine rollouts and developing vaccine education and training programs for HBPC team members specifically aligned to HBPC program needs. These lessons can extend to non-VA organizations who care for similar homebound populations.

Keywords

Home based primary care
interdisciplinary teams
strategies
veterans
COVID-19
in-home vaccination

Cited by (0)

This portion of the study was funded by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) through support from the Office of Patient Care Services, Veterans Health Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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