COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Rural Appalachian Healthcare Workers (Eastern Kentucky/West Virginia): A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction The success of a vaccination program is dependent on vaccine efficacy and the number of people vaccinated. Healthcare workers are the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine based on CDC phase 1a recommendations and are a point of contact for information for patients, so they must be well-educated on common misconceptions about the vaccine. Objective To identify acceptance/refusal rates of COVID-19 vaccine, reasons for refusal, and to understand the impact of demographics, work environment, and comorbidities on vaccine acceptance. Methods A cross-sectional study of 1076 healthcare employees in Rural Appalachian utilizing electronic and paper-based 12 question surveys from December 10, 2020, through December 20, 2020, followed up to April 2021. Results Within our study, 52.3% of our healthcare workers would accept vaccination with higher age, male gender, physicians, and those who receive annual flu vaccines more likely to accept vaccination. The most common reason for refusal was unknown side effects (88.5%). The second reason for refusal at 33.5% was waiting for someone else to take the vaccine first. In February 2021, the percentage of our healthcare workers who were vaccinated was 48%, which then increased to 55% in March 2021. By April 2021, the vaccination percentage of our healthcare workers reached 59%. Conclusions In order to predict how the public percentage of vaccination would be, healthcare workers need to address concerns about side effects from the vaccines and encourage the public to get the vaccines since healthcare workers themselves had already received the vaccines and can educate the patients on how they did after getting the shots.

Medical emergencies in the dermatology office: incidence and options for crisis preparedness.

Medical emergencies may occur in any setting, including dermatology offices. We examined the incidence of medical emergencies in a survey of 34 dermatologists northeast Ohio. Fifty-five events occurred over 565 combined years of clinical practice, an incidence of 1 episode every 10.3 years. We also review options for better preparedness for medical emergencies in dermatology practices, ranging from an emergency action plan for emergency personnel, basic life support (BLS) certification, advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification, and on-site automatic electronic defibrillators (AEDs).

Proliferating hemangioma of infancy: successful treatment with topical 5% imiquimod cream.

A 4-month-old girl had a proliferating hemangioma of infancy (infantile hemangioma) affecting the chest wall. The lesion had appeared 1 week after birth, demonstrating both superficial and deep components, and was rapidly enlarging. It had become painful and superficially eroded. Treatment with topical 5% imiquimod cream three times a week was associated with signs of involution after 10 days, and complete resolution after 10 weeks of therapy. The treatment was well tolerated.

Familial Sweet's syndrome in 2 brothers, both seen in the first 2 weeks of life.

Sweet's syndrome (or acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis) is a rare inflammatory disease that is characterized by fever, neutrophilia, and painful erythematous plaques that histologically show a dense dermal infiltrate of neutrophils without associated vasculitis. We describe 2 neonates (10 and 15 days of age) with Sweet's syndrome; to our knowledge, this is the first reported case of siblings with Sweet's syndrome.

Eruptive vellus hair cysts presenting as multiple periorbital papules in a 13-year-old boy.

Eruptive vellus hair cysts (EVHCs) are small, cystic papules that usually occur on the chest and proximal extremities of children and adults. The etiology is unknown. EVHCs of the eyelids have been reported infrequently. We describe a 13-year-old boy who presented with symptomatic EVHCs in a periorbital distribution.