1. Using Community Pharmacy Immunization Screening Forms to Identify Potential Immunization Opportunities
- Author
-
Jeffery A. Goad and Albert Bach
- Subjects
pharmacy ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Advisory committee ,Population ,Pharmacy ,01 natural sciences ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Medicine ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Medical history ,030212 general & internal medicine ,0101 mathematics ,General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics ,education ,missed opportunities ,education.field_of_study ,indications ,Descriptive statistics ,business.industry ,screening ,010102 general mathematics ,vaccines ,3. Good health ,Health history ,Immunization ,Community pharmacy ,Family medicine ,business - Abstract
Immunization screening forms are completed for each patient that is to be vaccinated in the pharmacy. Screening forms contain demographic and health questions, which are used to determine if a patient is contraindicated to receive a vaccine. The objective is to determine if patient responses to questions on these forms can be used to identify potential vaccine indications. De-identified data was retrospectively collected from 11 community pharmacies in California and Michigan that included basic demographics, answers to immunization screening questions, and vaccine(s) administered during that visit. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations were used to forecast vaccine needs using the limited demographic and health history available from the screening forms. Descriptive statistics are presented, characterizing patient demographics and health condition-based recommendations, and the percentage of patients in a pharmacy population that may have potential indications for additional vaccines. Data were collected from 8669 pharmacy vaccine screening forms. Using the patient&rsquo, s date of birth on the screening form, 10% (n = 759) and 34.6% (n = 2615) of patients receiving vaccines at the pharmacy may be indicated for the zoster, or both the zoster and pneumococcal vaccines, respectively. Screening form questions that inquire about medical history are also able to identify 13.9% (n = 977) of patients with a potential need for pneumococcal vaccines. Our data indicate that pharmacists can identify potential immunization opportunities proactively by using their immunization screening form, not only to identify contraindications, but also indications.
- Published
- 2019