ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/QUESTION: How can preclinical medical students be leveraged to address racial and geographic disparities in COVID19 vaccination rates? DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM/INTERVENTION: As vaccine rollout began in Chicago, communities most affected by the pandemic had the lowest vaccination rates. At our urban academic medical center, eligible patients received vaccine invitations via the patient portal or text message;however, this approach did not effectively reach many elderly patients who were not technologically connected or who had circumstance-specific questions. Due to clinical demands, staff were unable to reach out to individual patients. Preclinical medical students, with more flexible schedules, volunteered to address this gap in access. Targeting patients who lived in high-risk ZIP Codes (per the The COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index), we aimed to leverage preclinical students to expand the capacity of our vaccine outreach and tackle vaccine hesitancy. MEASURES OF SUCCESS: 1. How many patients were contacted to inform them of their eligibility? 2. How many patients were scheduled for a vaccination? FINDINGS TO DATE: Overall, 34 students contacted 820 patients. Most patients were Black or African American (91.0%). Of the patients that were reached (n=489), 84 (17.2%) were scheduled for vaccine appointments. Additionally, 79 (16.2%) of the patients that were reached were not immediately scheduled but agreed to vaccination, 52 (10.6%) said they were considering vaccination, 193 (39.6%) reached patients had already scheduled or received vaccination elsewhere, and 89 (18.2%) declined the vaccine after some discussion. KEY LESSONS FOR DISSEMINATION: We showed that integrating preclinical medical students into the health system can extend existing outreach efforts and thus is a model that is generalizable across many health-related issues. Beyond the tangible impacts of connecting patients with vaccine information and appointments, we learned several lessons. 1) Trainees' outreach increased healthcare accessibility for many patients. Many patients did not have a primary care physician and/or had previously only been seen in the Emergency Department, which created an opportunity to connect these patients to the healthcare system. 2) Many patients had difficulty independently making an appointment or held misinformed beliefs. As such, direct outreach gave us the opportunity to assist with patient-specific issues. 3) This intervention also benefited clinicians, who have limited time to proactively reach out to thousands of patients. 4) Further, our initiative benefited medical education: preclinical medical students gained experience and confidence speaking to patients, delivering patient education, and using the electronic medical record. Models like ours can address gaps in care beyond COVID-19, this model can be applied effectively to address inequities in healthcare access while leveraging the time, motivation, and skills of preclinical trainees.