New Toolkit Provides Tips for COVID-19 Vaccination Conversations

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has developed a guide to help those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to engage in constructive conversations with family members and friends who are hesitant about getting the vaccine, according to a press release.

The toolkit is associated with AACN’s Hear Us Out campaign to report nurses’ reality from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and help the unvaccinated reconsider their decisions.

“COVID-19 is still here. The majority of patients with COVID we’re seeing in ICUs haven’t been vaccinated, and their journey often ends with a nurse holding their hand as they die,” said Beth Wathen, AACN president and a clinical practice specialist in Denver, Colorado, in a press release. “Nurses need allies to end this pandemic, and productive conversations about the vaccine among family, friends and those who trust each other can open minds.”

Included in the toolkit are tips to help individuals prepare for potentially challenging conversations with those who are hesitant about getting vaccinated. The toolkit includes resources such as tip sheets, links to trusted information sources, and short videos of nurses sharing profound experiences of taking care of unvaccinated patients with COVID-19.

“This toolkit offers straightforward tips to keep sensitive conversations from becoming confrontational,” said Stephanie Burdick, a community health strategist in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a press release. “It fills a critical gap in community health education as the public prepares to celebrate the upcoming holidays with friends and loved ones.”

In a recent AACN survey of more than 6500 acute and critical care nurses, 76% of respondents claim that people who have yet to be vaccinated threaten nurses’ physical and mental well-being. Additionally, 92% of nurses surveyed said they think that the COVID-19 pandemic has depleted nurses at their hospitals and has led to the shortening of their careers than intended.

“We know that people in communities with low vaccination rates are at greater risk for becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 and dying from what is now largely a preventable disease,” said Amanda Bettencourt, AACN president-elect and an assistant professor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a press release. “The pandemic has brought the nursing profession into crisis, and the public is a critical part of the solution. The fastest way out of this is by more people getting vaccinated.”

REFERENCE

Toolkit provides tips for COVID vaccination conversations. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Published November 9, 2021. Accessed November 15, 2021. https://www.aacn.org/newsroom/toolkit-provides-tips-for-covid-vaccination-conversations