Utility of Follow-up Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Antigen Tests After Acute Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Among Healthcare Personnel.

We report the utility of rapid antigen tests (RAgT) in a cohort of US healthcare personnel with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection who met symptom criteria to return to work at day 5 or later of isolation. In total, 11.9% of initial RAgT were negative. RAgT can be helpful to guide return to work decisions.

Coordination of Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Technologist and Surgery Schedules.

Resource coordination in surgical scheduling remains challenging in health care delivery systems. This is especially the case in highly-specialized settings such as coordinating Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring (IONM) resources. Inefficient coordination yields higher costs, limited access to care, and creates constraints to surgical quality and outcomes. To maximize utilization of IONM resources, optimization-based algorithms are proposed to effectively schedule IONM surgical cases and technologists and evaluate staffing needs. Data with 10 days of case volumes, their surgery durations, and technologist staffing was used to demonstrate method effectiveness. An iterative optimization-based model that determines both optimal surgery and technologist start time (operational scenario 4) was built in an Excel spreadsheet along with Excel's Solver settings. It was compared with current practice (operational scenario 1) and optimization solution on only surgery start time (operational scenario 2) or technologist start time (operational scenario 3). Comparisons are made with respect to technologist overtime and under-utilization time. The results conclude that scenario 4 significantly reduces overtime by 74% and under-utilization time by 86% as well as technologist needs by 10%. For practices that do not have flexibility to alter surgeon preference on surgery start time or IONM technologist staffing levels, both scenarios 2 and 3 also result in substantial reductions in technologist overtime and under-utilization. Moreover, IONM technologist staffing options are discussed to accommodate technologist preferences and set constraints for surgical case scheduling. All optimization-based approaches presented in this paper are able to improve utilization of IONM resources and ultimately improve the coordination and efficiency of highly-specialized resources.

Effectiveness of Messenger RNA Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccines Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection in a Cohort of Healthcare Personnel.

In a large cohort of United States healthcare personnel without prior coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, 94 382 doses of messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine were administered to 49 220 individuals. The adjusted vaccine effectiveness following 2 doses of each of the 2 available brands of mRNA vaccine exceeded 96%.

Who is getting boosted? Disparities in COVID-19 vaccine booster uptake among health care workers.

COVID-19 vaccination remains one of the most effective tools to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy has limited primary vaccination and booster uptake among the general population and HCWs. To gain a better understanding of factors associated with booster vaccine uptake, we analyzed COVID-19 vaccine booster rates among HCWs and identified risk factors associated with nonacceptance. Of the 62,387 HCWs included in our analysis, the overall booster uptake rate was 64.8%. Older age, Non-Hispanic White racial group, early initial vaccine uptake and longer duration of employment were associated with higher booster uptake. Significant differences were observed between different job categories. This persistence of vaccine hesitancy and disparities in COVID-19 booster uptake among HCWs, almost 2 years after the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination, call for further efforts to increase vaccine confidence among HCWs and the general population in light of the continued need for further COVID-19 protection.

Disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake among health care workers.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccine uptake by healthcare workers (HCWs) is critical to protect HCWs, the patients they care for, and the healthcare infrastructure. Our study aims to examine the actual COVID-19 vaccination rate among HCWs and identify risk factors associated with vaccine nonacceptance. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of COVID-19 vaccinations for HCWs at a large multi-site US academic medical center from 12/18/2020 through 05/04/2021. Comparisons between groups were performed using unpaired student t-test for continuous variables and the chi-square test for categorical variables. A logistic regression analysis was used to assess the associations between vaccine uptake and risk factor(s). RESULTS: Of the 65,270 HCWs included in our analysis, the overall vaccination rate was 78.6%. Male gender, older age, White and Asian race, and direct patient care were associated with higher vaccination rates (P <.0001). Significant differences were observed between different job categories. Physicians and advanced practice staff, and healthcare professionals were more likely to be vaccinated than nurses and support staff. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrated higher initial vaccination rates among HCWs than the general population national average during the study period. We observed significant disparities among different high-risk HCWs groups, especially among different job categories, black HCWs and younger HCWs despite their high risk of contracting the infection. Interventions to address lower vaccination rate and vaccine hesitancy should be built with these disparities and differences in mind to create more targeted interventions.