Objectives: To describe the implementation of guidelines for vaccine storage in general practice, and their effectiveness in achieving optimum vaccine storage temperatures in fridges.
Design: Repeated cross‐sectional surveys over time ‐ phase 1 1996/97, phase 2 1998/99, phase 3 1999/2000.
Setting: Central Coast, New South Wales.
Participants: Phase 1 — all general practices on the Central Coast. Phases 2 and 3 — samples of practices.
Interventions: Each practice was surveyed about how they stored vaccines. A datalogger recorded fridge temperatures over six days. Individual feedback and advice were given.
Main outcome measures: Proportion of: 1. fridges maintaining a temperature in the 2–8°C range; 2. fridges freezing; 3. practices with one person responsible for vaccine storage; 4. fridge temperature checked daily; 5. fridges storing no items other than vaccines; 6. fridges with thermometers; and 7. associations between storage practices and fridge temperatures.
Results: In phase 1, 102 fridges, and in phase 3, a random sample of 36 practices was surveyed. The findings for phase 1 and phase 3 respectively were: 31% and 50% of fridges were in the 2–8°C range; 36% and 25% were <0°C; one person was responsible in 52% and 53% of cases; 20% and 38% reported daily checks; 74% and 94% of fridges had no extraneous items and 53% and 86% of fridges had thermometers. No statistically significant associations were found between vaccine storage practices and fridge temperatures.
Conclusions: Despite improvements in vaccine storage practices, a quarter of fridges were freezing, thereby compromising the potency of many of the immunisation schedule vaccines.
Pharmacies on the Central Coast of NSW were surveyed to assess the ability of refrigerators used for vaccine storage to maintain the recommended temperature range (2 to 8OC). Refrigerators used for vaccine storage were monitored over a 3-day period using a temperature data logger.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.