Providers,

Per a NYS DOH mandate released in April, hospitals must now offer the COVID vaccine to all unvaccinated patients who are being discharged to skilled nursing facilities.  In line with the DOH guidance, the vaccine that we will offer to this patient population will be the 1 dose Johnson & Johnson product to ensure complete vaccination without the coordination for a second dose prior to discharge. 

A small taskforce was created to develop a workflow for how to implement a process to identify eligible patients, determine if the patient is willing to receive the J&J vaccine, assess for contraindications and finally, administer the vaccine prior to discharge. The workflow is attached for your review – it requires handoff between several departments.

In short:

  • Case management will identify eligible patients and be the first team member to ask if they would like to receive the one dose J&J vaccine
  • If the patient agrees: Pharmacy will validate with NYSIIS that they have not yet been vaccinated
    • If the patient declines: case management will document that in a progress note (this satisfies the NYS mandated)
  • Once vaccination status is confirmed, pharmacy will contact the provider to alert them
    • The provider needs to discuss the vaccine with the patient and evaluate for any contraindications prior to placing the order for the COVID J&J Vaccine in EPIC
      • Please see the attached Trinity talking points regarding the J&J Vaccine, the EUA Vaccine Information Sheet and a brief summary on CSVST, the rare clotting disorder discovered in women aged 18-49 within ~2 weeks of receiving the vaccine
  • The rest of the process for dispensing and administration is outlined in the workflow document

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Bernie Delello Director of Pharmacy 448-5199 if you have questions – we realize that once we start to implement this process, the workflow may need to be adjusted/optimized to ensure we are providing the best service to our patients.

J&J talking points for staff
J&J Vaccine Information Sheet
JJ vaccine at discharge to SNF workflow final
CVST with thrombocytopenia brief summary – final