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How general practitioners store vaccines. A survey in south-western Sydney
1Department of General Practice, Fairfield Hospital, Sydney, NSW.
Objective:
To describe how general practitioners store vaccines.
Design:
A cross-sectional descriptive survey of general practices and observation of storage procedures for vaccines.
Setting:
South-western Sydney between September and December 1993.
Participants:
232 randomly selected general practitioners working in south-western Sydney, of whom 76% responded to a questionnaire. Vaccine storage was observed in 20 general practices.
Results:
At 80% of practices, one person was responsible for vaccine storage. Only 30% of respondents used a vaccine-only refrigerator. Only 16% of respondents had a means of measuring temperature, while 5% kept a record of refrigerator temperature. Of the general practices that were monitored, the measured temperature of 70% of the refrigerators used for storing vaccines was within the recommended range of 2 degrees C-8 degrees C.
Conclusions:
Vaccine storage would improve in general practices in south-western Sydney if vaccine-only refrigerators were used and temperature was monitored with maximum-minimum thermometers.