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Delivery of hepatitis B immunisations in a selection of computerised general practices
N Wilson1, S Dovey, D Bandaranayake
1Department of General Practice, Otago Medical School.
Aim:
To assess the value of computerised general practices in providing information concerning the delivery of hepatitis B immunisation.
Methods:
Hepatitis B immunisation data from August 1990 to June 1991 were collected from 27 general practices participating in a sentinel network.
Results:
The study identified significant limitations in the use of data from computerised general practices for estimating hepatitis B immunisation coverage. While an accurate coverage figure could not be estimated, the results did suggest that hepatitis B coverage for three doses was at least 59.5% and that its use was very similar to the triple vaccine and measles/MMR for the third dose. Hepatitis B immunisation delivery outside the desirable time periods was common at 44%, suggesting a fairly disrupted immunisation schedule for many children.
Conclusions:
The relatively infrequent delivery of hepatitis B vaccine at the same time as other vaccinations may reflect provider concern about administering multiple injections at the same visit. Further improvement in the collection of data by computerised practices is necessary before the full value of this data source can be realised. Improvements in reminder/recall systems would improve the efficiency with which hepatitis B immunisation is delivered.