Evaluating Interventions to Increase Influenza Vaccination Rates among Pediatric Inpatients

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Healthcare
• Infectious Disease Prevention
• Quality Improvement Initiatives

Background:

• Hospitalization presents a key opportunity for influenza vaccination.
• Electronic medical record (EMR) tools can be enhanced to improve vaccination rates.
• Provider and family-directed interventions can increase influenza vaccination ordering among inpatients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate provider and family-directed interventions to increase influenza vaccination ordering among pediatric inpatients.
• To compare the effectiveness of different EMR-integrated strategies for improving influenza vaccination rates.
• To assess the impact of interventions on overall vaccination rates and immunization status.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement initiative was conducted in a pediatric tertiary care hospital (September 2014 - March 2015).
• Interventions included provider reminders (emails, reports, visual prompts) and family education (handouts).
• A control group used EMR prompts alone; data analyzed using Statistical Process Control Charts and Chi-square tests.

Main Results:

• The provider reminder group had the highest influenza vaccine ordering rate (52%), significantly higher than family education (30%) and control (25%) groups (P < 0.0001).
• Provider reminders also led to higher overall influenza immunization status compared to the control group (61% vs. 53%; P = 0.0017).
• Intervention exposure did not affect patient length of stay or discharge time.

Conclusions:

• Provider reminders, encompassing emails, visual prompts, and vaccination reports, are effective in boosting inpatient influenza vaccination rates.
• These provider-focused strategies are more effective than family education or EMR prompts alone.
• Targeted interventions during hospitalization can significantly improve influenza immunization coverage in pediatric populations.