Friendly groups at hospital persuade more staff to get COVID-19 vaccinations

So Weinerman, internist and medical director of quality and patient safety at Sunnybrook, worked to reassure workers about the safety of the vaccine. Sunnybrook does not have a strict vaccination mandate, but staff who have not provided proof of COVID-19 vaccination must undergo regular testing.

The idea is that while the vaccination warrants themselves can generate angry compliance, some friendly persuasion can change your mind.

“We took as many different approaches as possible to get as much reliable and reliable information they could rely on and dispel these myths,” Weinerman said.

This included early groups, usually on Zoom, where Weinerman and others answered questions and offered information. Other groups were in person, in the wards or in the hospital kitchen or the concierge room. After the session, people could use a confidential email to ask specific questions that they might not have wanted to ask in person.

Weinerman’s team have trained over 100 people as vaccine champions who are available for everything from one-on-one interviews to large team meetings to address vaccine concerns. Champions hold different jobs, have different life experiences and backgrounds.

Weinerman said being open and accessible is another key to reaching staff. She often began her sessions by talking about the myths and lies that were circulating about the vaccine.

“I think that by opening the conversation with some of the most important questions we’ve heard or even some of the things that sounded the strangest, we opened it up so everyone would know there was no question that was forbidden, ”she said.

The program is continuing even though it has now slowed down as more and more people have been vaccinated.

As of this week, Sunnybrook reports that more than 95% of staff have received the COVID vaccine. Weinerman says nearly 1,000 Sunnybrook employees have participated in the program, and while it’s difficult to track precise results, she believes they have had an impact.

“For the record, I think we helped convince a lot of people to maybe get it sooner,” she said.

Confidence is the key

Dr Ayisha Kurji said she was very impressed when she heard about the work Sunnybrook staff were doing to get people vaccinated.

“I haven’t seen a lot of that kind of dedication, which I think is phenomenal and I wish everyone could have that level,” she said. Kurji is a pediatrician in Saskatoon and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Saskatchewan.

Kurji said trying different ways to connect with people, such as speaking in person and then offering confidential email, is important in helping people make informed decisions.

“I think it’s amazing because it gives people all the opportunities in a variety of different media and a variety of different contexts so whatever works for you, we’re here to have that answer,” he said. she declared.

For Kurji, the fact that Weinerman and his team obviously put a lot of time and effort into raising awareness is the key to building trust.

“Finding someone you trust, who you can ask your questions and know that you will get specific information that isn’t trying to push you one way or the other is definitely going to help people feel safer, ”she said.

From doubtful to decisive

The struggle to find good vaccine information, along with misinformation, are just some of the factors that lead to reluctance.

People from racialized communities who have had negative experiences with governments in the past may be skeptical of vaccination campaigns, Weinerman said.

Nurse Diana Beckford, team leader of the hospital’s D2 inpatient unit, which looks after nephrology patients among other things, said she was very fearful and suspicious of vaccine.

“It’s always been the theory and the thought that, you know, minorities and certain groups[s] people have been used as guinea pigs to test vaccines and all kinds of other things, ”she said.

A investigation from Innovative Research Group on behalf of the Black Opportunity Fund and the African Canadian Civic Engagement Council on vaccine reluctance in early June suggests black Canadians were more likely to be hesitant about COVID vaccines , compared to white or non-black colored people.

Beckford also felt that the development and approval of the COVID-19 vaccine proceeded very quickly.

“Wow, how could they have done this so fast?” She remembered wondering. “Will this help us?” Will it be effective? Was it good just because of the… speed at which it was prepared for people to use it? “

While the COVID-19 vaccine set in quickly, that speed was only possible thanks to the work scientists have been doing for years. Ozlem Tureci, who founded German company BioNTech with her husband, had been working on mRNA technology for two decades when they turned to its application to a COVID vaccine.

Beckford said her colleagues shared similar fears about the speed of vaccine development and were reluctant to get the shot, she said.

But Weinerman and his online sessions changed that, sessions Beckford called “deep.”

“I totally went out there thinking, I’m not doing this, and I left saying, ‘I’m going to book my vaccine because all the information I need to feel confident and have the knowledge. to make an informed decision, were given to me at the Zoom meeting, ”Beckford said.

Weinerman held three sessions with Beckford’s team and said the nurse’s leadership, including being present for all three sessions and being central in the video chat, helped others feel more comfortable. .

“I think Diana’s presence also showed her colleagues that it was important to all of them, that they had to listen, that they could feel safe,” Weinerman said.

She said she wasn’t sure if the caucuses were going to work, until she started getting feedback.

“It was only after people like Diana came to me and said, ‘I got the vaccine because of you or because of the information we got from you’, it got me. given the impression, okay, the hours and the time and the commitment to do it right and do it right is worth it, ”Weinerman said.

“In the end, my soil was literally 100% vaccinated,” Beckford said.

Written by Andrea Bellemare with files from Colleen Ross. Produced by Amina Zafar and Brian Goldman.