Polina Lerner, PharmD
Since April 2021, Polina Lerner, PharmD, has assisted with reviewing more than 400 inpatient COVID-19 vaccine consults at The Mount Sinai Hospital. To ensure timely patient discharges, she often arrives early to her shift to review new consults received overnight and checks on the status of patients with complex conditions who are pending vaccination.
After reviewing patients for vaccine appropriateness, Polina then coordinates the dose preparation by the pharmacy and the actual vaccination by the COVID-19 POD nurses. Her coordination efforts include helping to determine the order in which the patients should be vaccinated—taking into consideration discharge time, family visiting time, and the patient’s or care team’s specific requests.
Her attention to detail has guided patients to receive appropriately timed vaccines, ensured feedback to providers, and helped prevent any errors. She accomplishes all of this in addition to her other antimicrobial stewardship responsibilities at both The Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) and Mount Sinai Queens (MSQ).
Victoria Adams, Pharm D, Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Clinical Coordinator, has praise for Polina’s efforts.
“Polina goes above and beyond to ensure the patient’s vaccine administration is coordinated to be safe, timely, and in accordance with the requests of the patient or patient’s family. It is a labor-intensive process; Polina clearly sees this mission as noble and gratifying. Her attention to detail shows empathy toward our patients and the understanding of meeting the patient’s requests to permit vaccination.”
Gina Caliendo, Senior Director of Pharmacy at MSH, agrees. “Polina takes her responsibility for ensuring patient, provider, and family education around vaccination to heart. She goes out of her way to help vaccinate as many inpatients at both MSH and MSQ as possible. Her calm demeanor is very comforting to everyone with whom she interacts.”
Polina says that helping safely treat an infection is her ideal goal.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge I have faced in my professional career. It has also challenged me mentally and emotionally. When the COVID-19 vaccine became available, I wanted to offer it to every person in the world so that we could one day take off our masks and finally see each other smile again. When I know I helped a patient and now they are smiling, it’s inspirational and priceless, and this is what I strive for each day.”