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Nursing Action Plan: Vaccine Mandates

Lauren Moses

Delaware Tech Community College

NUR420 – Nursing Policy

February 15, 2024

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Introduction

The creation of an action plan for the provision of vaccinations in nursing requires

factoring in different elements that influence its success. Among the elements that require putting

into consideration include the legal, ethical, as well as practical factors that have an impact on

the nature of the operations that have an impact on the implemented strategies, the efforts that

different parties and stakeholders put into the whole affairs, and the degree of stakeholders’

involvement. To ensure that all factors are considered in the action plan, it should include

awareness creation, policy development, elaborate strategies for implementation,

communication, monitoring and evaluation, and collaboration.

Awareness Creation

The first step in the vaccination action plan is to inform the public, especially the target

community about the need for them to be vaccinated. In this case, it is crucial to inform them that

one of the major ways to curb and manage the spread of infectious diseases is through the

administration of vaccines. To put into perspective the concerned parties may point out the

examples that showcase the importance of vaccination such as the vaccination against the

COVID-19 virus and the role that it played in curbing the infection spread and bringing back

normalcy of business and human interaction in the world. Of most importance to note in this case

is the fact that the community members may increase their involvement in the vaccination

process if they are knowledgeable of the role that the vaccine plays in their health lives. To make

the whole educational and awareness creation process successful, one may need evidence-based

supporting information which may be obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to WHO “COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be safe, effective and lifesaving.”

(Vaccine efficacy, effectiveness, and protection, 2021). Therefore, it is evidence that vaccines
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are effective in protecting against diseases and this evidence-based information can be used in

the awareness creation sessions to convince the target community to cooperate with the

healthcare practitioners.

Policy Development

After the community has been made knowledgeable about the importance of participating

in the vaccination process, there is a need to create policies that can be enforced to ensure order

and easier management of the community receiving the vaccines. In this process, the healthcare

personnel responsible for the vaccination planning are required to cooperate with the legal expert

as well as other bodies responsible for healthcare regulations to create the policies. The policies

in this case required to be aligned with healthcare laws and regulations that are already there in

the healthcare sector so that they can have some legal backing. Further, to ensure that these

policies are observant of the views and contribution of different stakeholders including nursing

staff, and the community members through their leadership. When the polices are agreed upon

by all the concerned stakeholders, there are high chance that they will own them and adhere to

them which translates to an effective and smooth transition of operation that pertains to the

vaccination process.

Elaborate Strategies for Implementation

Once policies that guide the whole vaccination process have been set, it follows the

laying down of the timeline for the implementation of the operations that are associated with the

vaccination process. At this stage, among the elements that are put into consideration include

deadlines that the vaccination needs to observe to completion so that the involved stakeholders

can get prepared regarding the whole activity. One thing to note in this case is that each of the
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interested parties already knows their role in the vaccination. Also, the implementation strategy

may involve the allocation of resources that may be needed to ensure that the vaccination process

is successful. These resources include access to the vaccines by healthcare practitioners and

identification of the most appropriate and accessible venue for the public where they can get

vaccinated. Also, the healthcare stakeholders require making plans regarding how to identify and

make exemptions as well as how to handle any eventualities associated with the vaccination

process that may occur in the process.

Communication

Before embarking on the process of administration of vaccines there is a need for the

healthcare management and leadership to take charge of the whole process and operations. One

of the ways through which the management and leadership team can take charge of the

vaccination is by engaging in effective communication and laying down effective

communication strategies for use throughout the vaccination process. It is the role of the leader

to ensure that they foster a culture of transparency where the flow of information between the

stakeholders is smooth and flawless. This kind of communication is appropriate to ensure that

the stakeholders are updated about changes that take place and any emerging needs during the

process. According to the Alliance for Health Policy, healthcare management, and leadership

play a major role in healthcare by creating a dialogue surrounding the efforts of improvement of

health outcomes by bringing together stakeholders and facilitating their communication and

exchange (Improving health care by inspiring a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and

perspectives, 2024).

Monitoring and Evaluation

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After the vaccination operations have started taking place and have done so for a

considerable time, it follows monitoring and evaluating the processes as they take place. The

monitoring and evaluation facilitate the ability to track and understand the rate of vaccination

and compare it to the set or design rate. Through effective monitoring and evaluations, it

becomes possible for the management and leadership to understand how effective the action plan

is and the changes that need to be done to ensure that it becomes better. Notably, this evaluation

and monitoring require being done regularly to ensure that any areas of need are identified soon

before it leads to negative impacts on the vaccination process. If need be, major or minor

adjustments can be made to the action to make it meet the vaccination needs appropriately.

Collaboration

Collaboration with different institutions, professional organizations, and governments is

needed to ensure that the vaccination process gains the support it needs to succeed. Different

organizations and institutions also help advocate for different groups of interest. They also

contribute to promoting diversity and inclusivity in the vaccination process. In this case,

consulting and organizations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation may be of importance as

a resource to guide the process of ensuring inclusivity and diversity. One of the guiding

principles of this organization is diversity and inclusivity and therefore it is included as a part of

the action plan design process (Our Guiding Principles, 2024). Generally, collaborating with

institutions, organizations, and the government may work well in pulling different intellectual

resources that provide insights into how the action plan can be ethical and sensitive to different

community health needs.

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References

Improving health care by inspiring a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and

perspectives (2021). Alliance for Health Policy. Retrieved from

https://www.allhealthpolicy.org

Our Guiding Principles (2024). Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved from

www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/our-guiding-principles.html

Vaccine efficacy, effectiveness, and protection (2021). WHO. Retrieved from

https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/vaccine-efficacy-effectiveness-

and-protection