Improving influenza immunisation for high-risk children and adolescents

Abstract

Implementation of the change package, based on evidence and diffusion of innovation theory, resulted in higher immunisation rates than typically reported in the medical literature, especially for the community-based primary care practices.

Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates in children with high-risk conditions—A systematic review

“…The studies examined various types of interventions, including multi-component strategies [11][12][13], letter reminders [14][15][16][17][18], telephone recall [19,20], and a combination of letters and telephone calls [21]. One author [22,23] used an Electronic Health Record (EHR) plus letter reminder and/or phone calls and an Asthma Education Tool (AET) in two separate studies.…”

“…Two studies using comparator groups for multi-component strategies in children with HRCs were found [11,12]. Both showed increases in uptake, but the self-selection by the practices of whether they would undertake the intervention or not (the control group) limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the one trial [12] and the variation in the components adopted by clinics within both studies makes it difficult to assess what an effective multi-component strategy should contain.…”

“…There was a significant increase in the overall influenza vaccination rate from 5.4% in 1996-97 to 32.1% in 1997-98 (p < 0.001), and the picture was similar for all age groups (<5, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Overall, vaccination rates were 10 Britto et al [12] carried out an intervention during the 2004/05 influenza season involving 5 regional Cystic Fibrosis (CF) centres, 10 hospital clinics (of which 6 had taken part in a similar programme the previous year), and 39 community-based paediatric practices in Cincinnati, OH, United States. The strategies employed were spread to multiple centres using the diffusion of innovation theory.…”

Influenza vaccination among household contacts of children with cystic fibrosis and healthy children

“…Education of families about the risks and benefits of immunization should help to reduce the fear related to obtaining vaccinations. Other helpful strategies include weekend/evening 'flu shot only' sessions, open access to flu shots, and reminder telephone calls and postcards to patients (33). These should be tailored not only to the patients themselves, but toward household contacts as well.…”