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Flu vaccine and the ED: Administering influenza vaccine in a Canadian emergency department: Is there a role?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Ann Marie Chiasson  and
Patrick Rowe
Ann Marie Chiasson*
Affiliation:
Prince George Regional Hospital, Prince George, BC
Patrick Rowe
Affiliation:
Prince George Regional Hospital, Prince George, BC
*
Prince George Regional Hospital, 2000 15th Ave., Prince George BC V2M 1S2; amchiasson@bcgroup.net

Abstract

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Objectives:

To determine the prevalence of influenza vaccination in patients who present to the emergency department (ED) who meet current guidelines for its use. To evaluate the feasibility of an ED-based program to provide influenza vaccine to at-risk patients.

Methods:

A survey of ED patients and their family physicians, using a convenience sample.

Participants and setting:

Consecutive patients presenting to the emergency department of Prince George Regional Hospital, Prince George, BC, a regional hospital in Northern British Columbia, during designated shifts between Nov. 6, 1997, and Dec. 10, 1997.

Outcome measures:

Age, gender, family physician (FP), eligibility for influenza vaccine, vaccination status, willingness to receive vaccine in the ED, and FP methods for ensuring use of influenza vaccine.

Results:

935 patients were interviewed; 816 met study eligibility criteria. Of 214 patients eligible for influenza vaccine, 113 (52.8%) had not been vaccinated. Fifty-three (46.9%) agreed to vaccination, and 49 were vaccinated in the ED. A survey of the patients’ FPs revealed that 85% used callback lists, but that only 49% of vaccine-eligible patients identified in the study were on a callback list. Positive associations were found between the presence of an FP and the likelihood of having been vaccinated (odds ratio [OR] = 8.8), being on a callback list and having been vaccinated (OR = 4.1), and age >64 and being on a callback list (OR = 2.1).

Conclusions:

Up to 50% of patients eligible for influenza vaccine are not adequately immunized. Administering influenza vaccine in the ED is acceptable to patients and should reduce influenza rates in at-risk populations. There is a role for administering influenza vaccine in the ED.

Keywords

influenza vaccineimmunizationemergency departmentcallback list
Type
Controversies • Controverses
Information
Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 90 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians 2000

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