Unveiling the silent threat among us: leveraging health information technology in the search for asymptomatic COVID 19 healthcare workers.

Assuring the safety of both patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) in hospitals has been the primary focus of every healthcare organization during the COVID 19 pandemic. This article discusses the NIH Clinical Center's interdisciplinary approach to deploying an organizational Asymptomatic Staff Testing System.

A seroprevalence study of primate workers for asymptomatic rhesus cytomegalovirus infection.

BACKGROUND: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection can cause severe disease in neonates and immunocompromised persons, and infectious mononucleosis in healthy adults. While, rhesus CMV (RhCMV) infects human cells in culture, it is unknown whether the virus can infect humans. OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether primate workers, including those with injuries from animals, might be infected asymptomatically with RhCMV. STUDY DESIGN: We developed serologic assays that distinguish RhCMV from HCMV antibodies. We tested two groups of primate workers: those with documented injuries or mucosal splashes associated with rhesus macaques, and those with no documented exposure who worked with these animals. RESULTS: None of over 200 primate workers, including 119 with injuries or mucosal splashes associated with exposures to macaques, were seropositive for RhCMV. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of asymptomatic RhCMV infection in persons who work with rhesus macaques was <0.5% (<1/200 primate workers).

A successful mandatory influenza vaccination campaign using an innovative electronic tracking system.

BACKGROUND: Although influenza vaccination of healthcare workers reduces influenza-like illness and overall mortality among patients, national rates of vaccination for healthcare providers are unacceptably low. We report the implementation of a new mandatory vaccination policy by means of a streamlined electronic enrollment and vaccination tracking system at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the outcome of a new mandatory staff influenza vaccination program. METHODS: A new hospital policy endorsed by all the component NIH institutes and the Clinical Center departments mandated that employees who have patient contact either be vaccinated annually against influenza or sign a declination specifying the reason(s) for refusal. Those who fail to comply would be required to appear before the Medical Executive Committee to explain their rationale. We collected in a database the names of all physician and nonphysician staff who had patient contact. When a staff member either was vaccinated or declined vaccination, a simple system of badge scanning and bar-coded data entry captured essential data. The database was continuously updated, and it provided a list of noncompliant employees with whom to follow up. RESULTS: By February 12, 2009, all 2,754 identified patient-care employees either were vaccinated or formally declined vaccination. Among those, 2,424 (88%) were vaccinated either at the NIH or elsewhere, 36 (1.3%) reported medical contraindications, and 294 (10.7%) declined vaccination for other reasons. Among the 294 employees without medical contraindications who declined, the most frequent reason given for declination was concern about side effects. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a novel vaccination tracking process and a hospital policy requiring influenza vaccination or declination yielded dramatic improvement in healthcare worker vaccination rates and likely will result in increased patient safety in our hospital.