Benchmarking public health pain management practices during school immunizations

Pain and fear during immunizations can affect children and their future behaviour toward immunization. These negative experiences can be amplified when children receive vaccines as part of school-based immunization programs, where parental or tutor supports are missing. In 2015, HELPinKIDS&ADULTS, a Canadian network of experts, published a clinical practice guideline (CPG) on the management of pain and fear during immunization. This guideline has been endorsed by international, national and provincial organizations. However, the level of integration and implementation of the CPG into local and community immunization programs such as school-based immunization clinics is unclear.

An investigation whether public health units in Ontario integrated and implemented the pain and fear interventions recommended by the CPG into school-based immunization policies and practices was concluded.

The study shows that the majority of public health units do have pain and fear policies and procedures in place, but interventions are not integrated in a consistent and formal manner, leading to suboptimal uptake of interventions during immunizations at school.

For pain interventions to be applied with sufficient fidelity and in enough individuals to have a meaningful effect, organizational leaders need to create directives and procedures that support implementation in a systematic and accountable manner.