Missed immunisation opportunities in emergency departments in northern New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Important missed immunisation opportunities occurred in HNE EDs and may occur in other EDs in Australia. Half of the children who presented to Hunter New England emergency departments while overdue for immunisation remained overdue for greater than 77 days following their presentation. Opportunities exist in EDs and paediatric inpatient wards for ensuring that all children are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Determining immunisation status of children from history: a diagnostic accuracy study

“…Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of health professionals in determining parental attitudes towards immunisation 9 and that opportunistic immunisation would be taken up if offered. 3 While coverage of immunisation history taking could be improved, for example, by making it a required part of admission or discharge documentation, this alone is unlikely to significantly improve detection of those overdue because of the low sensitivity of the history. Our study shows that older children with minor injuries are less likely to be asked, and so education to clinicians or modifications to the clerking proforma, to target this group may be particularly beneficial.…”

“…2 Children who are overdue with immunisations may present more frequently as unplanned visits to healthcare settings such as emergency departments. 3 It is important to identify these children, both to identify children who may be at increased risk of…”

Countering vaccine hesitancy through immunization information systems, a narrative review

“…One of the possible reasons for a low specific vaccine rate is missed opportunities; through this review, six manuscripts were retrieved and analyzed. [62][63][64][65][66][67] Verani and colleagues performed a retrospective evaluation of 2001-2005 influenza seasons (using data from New York Citywide Immunization Registry) aimed to assess the prevalence of missed opportunities in children aged 6-23 months, among a practice network in New York. 66 Missed opportunities were defined as clinic visits during which the patients eligible for vaccination did not received vaccine.…”

Hospitals Are Not an Appropriate Setting in which to Provide Catch‐Up Immunisations

“…Because of the intriguing finding of a higher risk of missed opportunities in tertiary hospitals, 2 we collaborated with a tertiary hospital ED to determine the true opportunities for offering immunisation in EDs and attendant costs.…”