How healthcare providers shapE vaccine administration rates
When healthcare providers discuss flu vaccine with patients missed opportunities decrease
- A substantial proportion of unvaccinated patients report they did not know vaccination was necessary or did not receive a recommendation for vaccination from their providers. As a result some healthcare professionals have developed systems to:
- remind patients and healthcare professionals when vaccinations are due
- routinely review the vaccination status of patients at each visit
- educate patients about risks and benefits
of vaccination
- remind patients and healthcare professionals when vaccinations are due
- Missed flu vaccination opportunities were significantly more common in January, in patients younger than 65, when there was no status inquiry or discussion regarding vaccination.
- Missed immunization opportunities increased significantly as the flu vaccination season progressed. Early in the season, most patients requested vaccine and missed opportunities were uncommon (8.3% of visits) when there were no queries. However, January visits in which there were no staff-initiated queries, the proportion of missed opportunities jumped to 96.8 percent.
Source: Vaccine (2006), Vol. 24, pgs. 798-802. Daniel B. Fishbein, et al. Pages “Why do not patients receive influenza vaccine in December and January?
This study was approved by the institutional review boards of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of California (San Diego), Presbyterian Hospital Systems and the University of Rochester. It was conducted from October
23, 2001 to January 31, 2002.
