Objective:
To determine if a clinic system to assess and vaccinate preschool-age children at every clinic visit can improve vaccination rates.
Design:
A nonequivalent control group design constrasting an intervention clinic with a comparison clinic.
Setting:
Two urban St Paul, Minn, clinics. The intervention clinic is a family practice residency clinic, and the comparison clinic is a community health center clinic.
Patients:
Primarily a low socioeconomic status white population.
Interventions:
A clinic-wide system to identify and vaccinate children at all clinic visits. Appointment personnel, medical assistants, and physicians all had roles in the intervention protocol.
Main Outcome Measures:
Percentage of children at the 2 clinics who were up-to-date for a primary vaccine series at age 24 months and also at the end of the study collection periods, preintervention and postintervention.
Results:
The intervention clinic improved the percentage of children up-to-date for a primary vaccine series at age 24 months from 42% to 56% (P=.02), while the percentage at the comparison clinic did not change significantly (P=.81). Similarly, the intervention clinic improved the percentage of children up-to-date for age at the end of the study periods from 49% preintervention to 63% postintervention (P=.02), while the percentage at the comparison clinic did not improve significantly (P=.45). The system was especially useful for children with few visits to the intervention clinic.
Conclusions:
Although the intervention clinic resulted in a substantial improvement in vaccination rates for preschool-age children, rates remained well below national goals. A combination of clinic, community, and national initiatives may be needed to ensure appropriate vaccination rates for this challenging patient population.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1997;151:1220-1223