Assessing the Impact of the Consultant Pharmacist on Pneumococcal Vaccine Administration in a Long-term Care Facility

Objective To describe the impact of consultant pharmacist recommendations on the frequency of pneumococcal vaccines administered to older people admitted to a long-term care facility (LTCF). Design: Retrospective observational study. Setting: LTCF with skilled and intermediate level care. Participants: Adult patients newly admitted to a LTCF in Southwestern Pennsylvania between December 1, 2016, and November 30, 2017, and between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2019, were included. Interventions The intervention in the study was a consultant pharmacist-driven immunization screening service that was implemented as part of the admission medication review process in January 2018. To assess the impact of the service, the pneumococcal immunization rates of patients who were candidates for pneumococcal vaccination were compared between two patient cohorts who were defined by exposure to the immunization needs assessment and subsequent recommendations by a consultant pharmacist. Results A total of 468 patient admissions were included, with 68 in Cohort 1 and 400 in Cohort 2. Pneumococcal immunization rate, calculated as number of pneumococcal vaccinations administered over the number of admissions eligible for pneumococcal vaccination, had a statistically significant increase (1.9%-20.2%; P < 0.05). Conclusion The recommendations from a consultant pharmacist as a result of an immunization needs assessment upon admission to a LTCF significantly contributed to an increased rate of pneumococcal immunizations. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate future strategies to reduce vaccination refusals.