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October 28, 2020

Patient Safety Beat Patient safety news and progress in Massachusetts.

Flu shots now required for all personnel in long term care and assisted living

After years of encouraging voluntary efforts to increase the number of health care personnel vaccinated against the flu, Massachusetts now requires vaccination for everyone working in long-term care, assisted living and other facilities that serve older adults and individuals with disabilities, whether or not they have direct contact with patients and residents. Applications for exemptions will only be accepted from individuals with specific religious or medical contraindications.  Facilities and organizations have until December 31, 2020, to ensure personnel are vaccinated and until January 15, 2021, to submit documentation to the state.

National experts and organizations in Massachusetts share strategies to achieve high vaccination rates

Will Erickson on labor-management collaboration at UMass Memorial to boost flu vaccine rates

“We’re handling [our members’ concerns] on a case-by-case basis through our problem-solving process .… We know our members well, and we’re fortunate to have a strong labor-management partnership here at UMass Memorial, so we have a lot of practice working things out to everyone’s benefit.” — Will Erickson, Organizer for Process Improvement at UMass Memorial Health Care, on behalf of SHARE (an AFSCME affiliate) Read the interview

Virtual peer support to help frontline providers cope with stresses of COVID-19 The Betsy Lehman Center is piloting a series of virtual peer support groups aimed at helping frontline health care workers thrive despite the stresses and emotional toll of caring for people during the pandemic. This comes as the entire health care community prepares for a rising number of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts. The Center has organized four support groups — facilitated by licensed mental health professionals — that will meet through an online platform once each week for four-to-six weeks. The sessions will focus on key topics of concern, coping skills, and mutual support. Two pilot groups are designated for frontline workers at nursing homes, one for clinicians and staff at a midsize hospital, and one for supervisors who manage workers at home care agencies around the state. “The need for this is very real,” says Linda Kenney, Director of Peer Support Programs at the Betsy Lehman Center, who has more than 15 years of experience developing and implementing peer support models. “These are people who spend every day caring for others and many of them have experienced tremendous losses in the nursing homes and other places where they care for people, especially older adults. It’s important that we find a way to make sure they are taking care of themselves too.” The pilot initiative will be evaluated in December with an eye toward scaling it to meet the needs of a larger group of care providers in 2021. See more information about peer support

Upcoming events Two webinars will discuss the electronic version of the Massachusetts MOLST form now available through a web portal: October 30, 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Healthcentric Advisors and the MA Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors will lead a discussion and a web portal representative will answer technical questions and hear user feedback. Register here November 18, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. The MA Coalition for Serious Illness Care, in collaboration with Honoring Choices MA and Ariadne Labs, invites questions and feedback for a webinar about user experience of the Massachusetts e-MOLST web portal. Register here November 5, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. AHRQ webinar, Working with Patient Safety Organizations: The Value for Hospitals During COVID-19 and Beyond. Click here for more information and to register

Patient Safety Beat is published by the Betsy Lehman Center, a state agency that supports providers, patients and policymakers working together to advance the safety and quality of health care.

BetsyLehmanCenterMA.gov

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