Problem
You are assigned as the charge nurse for the emergency department (ED) at the small Native American Medical Center with limited healthcare services on a United States Indian Reservation. You assign a 22-year-old Native American who identifies as a male patient to one of the ED nurses. The patient has no previous hospitalizations or illnesses and takes no medications. He attends college full-time and works at a local casino part-time. He lives on the reservation with his family and plays soccer on an undefeated team. The patient received the second dose of a PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE 36 hours ago and presents with chest tightness, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness and hypotension. The ED physician diagnoses the patient with myocarditis and plans a transfer to a larger cardiac specialty center in a nearby city. The physician states that it takes too long to fill out the Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS) and the government is not going to do anything about the covid vaccine anyway. The nurse you assigned the patient privately tells you that the ED physician has not completed VAERS in the past when patients have presented with adverse reactions to influenza or covid vaccinations.
• What next steps should the charge nurse take to deal with the situation presented?