Effectiveness of patient-held paper immunization record and immunization express lane at the Family and Community Medicine Outpatient Department in increasing utilization of recommended adult vaccination

ABSTRACT

Background@#Significant efforts are being done to lessen the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases. However, missed opportunities for vaccination due to unfavorable clinic hours and the long waits at the clinic deter adults from obtaining vaccinations. Likewise, adult patients are rarely provided with their own vaccination record, which could heighten their awareness and remind them of the recommended vaccines they need to obtain, leading to being not vaccinated. At the outpatient clinic, promoting high-impact and cost-effective preventive services such as vaccination will not only save monetary expenses but more importantly, will lead to incidence reduction of vaccine –preventable diseases.@*Objective@#The objective of the study was to determine effectiveness of Patient-Held Paper Immunization Record and Immunization Express Lane in increasing the vaccination rate among adult patients at FMC OPD.@*Subjectives and Setting@#Study population consisted of adult patients at the Family Medicine Clinic (FMC)-OPD, with the following criteria ages 19 years old and above regardless of co-morbidities and vaccination status; those who are consulting as new or follow-up patient at FMC-OPD from March- May 2016.@*Design@#The study utilized a before-and-after study design on the effectiveness of Patient-Held Immunization Record and Immunization Express Lane in increasing vaccination utilization among adult patients at FMC-OPD.@*Data Collection@#To determine baseline vaccination rate, chart reviews were done after each consult day. The sociodemographic data and vaccination data were gathered using the data obtained from the vaccination logbook. @*Results@#66 adult patients who were vaccinated during the implementation of vaccination strategies were mostly elderly, married, with no work, college graduate, Manila resident, known hypertensive, informed by physician regarding vaccination, and obtained vaccination during clinic consults. Pneumococcal vaccine had the highest proportion (84%) of administered vaccine. Prior to the intervention, baseline vaccination rate yielded 0.04%. After implementation of the combined vaccination strategies, the generated vaccination was 1.17%. There was a 28.25% increase in vaccination rate.@*Conclusion@#The use of combined vaccination strategies, consisting of Patient-Held Immunization Record and Immunization Express Lane was effective in increasing the vaccination rate among adult patients at the FMC-OPD.