What’s it like to become a volunteer vaccinator?
Director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, Helen Whyley, worked as a vaccinator for Swansea Bay University Health Board. Here, she tells us about her experience...
Q. How did you become a volunteer vaccinator? Formally I have joined the workforce but I’m on an honorary contract. So if I do it during the week, the RCN are paying my salary under the ‘giving something back’ policy. If I do it at the weekend, I’m doing it in my own time because it’s what I choose to do.
You need to be determined and committed to ensure the process continues. It is somewhat longwinded, but it is there to ensure patient safety.
Q. Is this a process that everyone has to go through as a vaccinator?
Yes, you all go through the same process, so I applied and had an interview. I’ve had a disclosure and barring service check. I’ve had an identity check and I’ve had references taken up. You shouldn’t get any passes for this, whoever you are, because it’s all about patient safety.
Could it be slightly slicker? Yes, it could, especially when you’re on a professional register. Should it really take four months to get from application to starting? No, it shouldn’t. But patient safety has to be paramount.
Q. Where are you volunteering and what’s it like there?
Mainly I go to Margam Country Park where the Orangery is a temporary vaccine centre.
Once I filled in a form, had an interview, got a DBS check and had my references completed, I was invited to complete the required training. I went for a theory day on December 29 and did my CPR life support skills, an update on infection prevention and control, and a theoretical module on how the Oxford Astrazeneca and Pfizer vaccines are given. Then there were more online courses.
I did my competency assessment at Swansea Bay mass vaccination centre where I was met by the clinical lead, Louise Giles, the charge nurse in intensive care when I first went to work in cardiac. I’d only been qualified about a year and she became a mentor for me. Having her as the clinical lead was great.
Most of the nurses I met there were either working for agencies, they had retired and returned, or they had come from the university.
Patients then come into a pod and are seated ready for them to consent and then receive their vaccine. Two nurses draw up and check each other’s work. I see patients on one side of the pod and the nurse next to me has another side of the pod.
It was nice to meet and work with nurses from different professional backgrounds, from the fellow senior nurse who wanted to come back and help, to the retired nurses who were so passionate about nursing and the profession they wanted to contribute.
Since passing the competency assessment I’ve been going to the Orangery at Margam, where we’re predominantly giving the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. This is easier than the Pfizer vaccine which you have to reconstitute. The Oxford Astrazeneca comes ready constituted.
Q. What’s your daily routine like at the Orangery?
I usually do a half shift because that’s easier for me to fit in around work. That means I arrive at the vaccine centre at 8am and meet with colleagues, which sometimes includes Army personnel.
Medical orderlies can’t draw up vaccine but they can administer it. So registered staff draw up the vaccine for those people as well. Then we take ourselves to the clinical desk and a supervisor brings out the vaccine. They sign a label saying what time the vaccine has been taken out of the fridge. I record the time when I start using it and draw up nine doses of vaccine from that vial.
Then I mark how long those syringes are viable
for, because they need to be in an arm within six hours. I check all this activity with my colleague and she checks hers with me. We need to make sure we have vaccine cards with the correct batch and date on them before going out into the pod.
Then we work through the pod. Each of us have an administrator with a computer, and they help us record the patients’ vaccinations.
I’ll check how they’re feeling and try to relax them if they’re feeling nervous. The administrator checks their name and details, confirming we have the right patient, then I’ll run through a series of checks.
Q. Are people happy to be there?
Generally, I would say people are a bit nervous. The men are a bit more nervous than the women. I don’t know why. I’ve had a couple of people who have been very nervous, so it takes more time. And I’ve had people with quite complex medical conditions and you just need to work it all through, perhaps going into a private space if necessary.
My colleague had a patient with autism who had a dog who was there to help the patient.
That created great excitement because everyone wanted to pet the dog.
We’ve had a couple of people faint before receiving their vaccine.
When I arrived on shift one day, we had one lady who was feeling unwell and she hadn’t had the vaccine, but you just have to reassure people it’s nothing to do with the vaccine.
I’ve vaccinated a few staff members as well, including a doctor last week and a lot of agency nurses. They are called for vaccination in the same way as the public, but their employer gives their names to ensure they are vaccinated in line with the government’s priority groups.
I also had one lady who had lost her father to Covid-19 and was very emotional. She was very relieved and grateful to have the vaccine. She said he’d been well and fit until he caught the virus, so that experience just brought home the importance of being vaccinated to some families.
Q. Give us some numbers. How long does the process take patients and how many can you vaccinate in a day?
Most patients have a time on their letter and they’re in and out in 10 to 15 minutes. There can be a lag if we’ve had patients who need a little more time, so that can slow the process down.
With the Astrazeneca jab we ask people not to
drive for 15 minutes. If anyone’s feeling unwell, of course we wouldn’t let them go.
On a four-hour shift I would normally give three to four rounds of nine vaccines, at least. The unit itself is vaccinating over 1,000 people every day.
Q. Is it ever difficult to ensure you use all the vaccine you draw up?
You have to carefully gauge how much vaccine to draw up because if you expect 30 patients and only 20 come in, it can get difficult. The thing you absolutely don’t want to do is throw it away.
This is where the waiting list comes in. We have quite a long list of people waiting to get called at short notice. During one evening shift at about 7pm we had a lot of people who didn’t attend and ended up with nine or 10 vaccines still available. It was during the England-wales rugby match so there were quite a few people who didn’t want to come because they’d had a drink. We can’t give a vaccine to anyone who has been drinking of course.
We were supposed to finish at 8pm but in the end I went home at 9.45pm because I was staying until all the vaccine we had prepared got into arms. We managed not to waste any.
Q. How long do you think you’ll be doing it for?
We don’t know about the booster jabs at the moment but I’m about to book in shifts across the summer and we’ll see from there. People giving the jabs in Margam are either nurses, doctors, dentists or qualified medical orderlies who are in the Army. I want to promote how this is being nurseled. Because it’s nurses who are in charge, from taking the clinical lead to organising the rosters.
Q. What would you say to anyone nervous about taking the vaccine?
If being vaccinated gets us out of the pandemic it’s a good thing, isn’t it? If you are nervous come and talk to the staff we can allay fears and explain the process, often this is all people need. I want to encourage people to take the vaccine and for everyone to do their bit. Some patients are still surprised about the need to wear a face mask and social distance after they’ve had the vaccine. It’s important to say to them this is giving you immunity but it doesn’t stop transmission.
Q. What’s the most enjoyable thing about being a vaccinator? Are you glad you’ve done it?
Oh yeah, really glad I’ve done it and extremely grateful to Swansea Bay University Health Board. For me it’s been an opportunity to go back to some of the things that got me into nursing in the first place looking after people and doing things that are good.
Working with the Welsh public has also been great. Some of them will tell you a little joke and some are worried about something. There are people like the gentleman whose wife had been shielding for months. They’re just glad to have a chat.
Alongside that, it’s been good to hear the experiences of other nurses and what the world is like for them. That includes a lot of agency nurses, who are agency nurses because of the flexibility it gives them. They can do the hours they want and take a long weekend when they want.
The people there are really supportive and I always feel able to just go and ask something. One person had described having something like an anaphylactic reaction previously to a medication, but they didn’t think they were allergic to anything, so I wanted to check that. You can call your buddy or a supervisor and feel well supported doing that. And of course, what a beautiful part of the world to go and give vaccines in: Margam Country Park. I feel really lucky to have this experience and would like to thank Swansea Bay University Health Board once again.