Vaccine Review Can Help Pharmacists Raise Awareness, Promote Immunizations
Pharmacy staff members said that VaxCheck was compatible with pharmacy workflow but there were several barriers to its implementation.
A service that reviews what vaccines a patient has received over the course of their life can help community pharmacists raise awareness and guide personal immunization plans, new data published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association found.1 The study authors said that while the service was feasible, there were many barriers impacting its implementation.
Vaccine Review Can Help Pharmacists Raise Awareness, Promote Immunizations / Dusan Petkovic - stock.adobe.com
Vaccine hesitancy in the United States has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from a poll conducted by Ohio State University found 37% of respondents said they have gotten vaccines in the past, but do not plan on getting any this year.2 As trusted and accessible health care providers, pharmacists are well positioned to help increase vaccine uptake. Research has demonstrated that when pharmacists are involved in immunization, patients are more likely to receive vaccines.3
READ MORE: Learning Sessions, Shared Decision Making Could Help Increase Vaccinations Among Older Adults
“In addition to administering vaccines, pharmacists and pharmacy staff are well-placed to identify those who are eligible for vaccination, and have the knowledge and skills to review vaccination status and address vaccine hesitancy through education and promotion,” the authors wrote. “Furthermore, pharmacists are frequently consulted and accessible health professionals; they offer opportunities to establish patient-provider relationships perceived as having more equal power dynamic than patient-physician interactions.”
Investigators from the University of Waterloo conducted a study to examine how a novel life-course vaccine review service could be used to raise awareness and guide personal vaccination action plans in community pharmacies. The study included 9 pharmacy locations in Ontario, Canada, with 13 staff members and 123 patients participating. The staff members completed 3 rapid quality improvement cycles of providing the vaccine review service and completed interviews at baseline and following each cycle.
For the study, researchers developed the vaccine review service, called VaxCheck. The service consists of 3 steps: identifying vaccine history and indications for vaccination, using a clinical decision support tool to determine any recommended vaccines, and either administering the vaccines or working with other health care providers to implement an action plan. Each pharmacy participating in the study identified a staff member to take responsibility for supporting the service and provide feedback.
The study found staff members using VaxCheck said it helped them increase patient awareness of vaccination services and deliver individually tailored advice. The staff members said they helped patients make informed decisions by delivering unbiased advice based on evidence and correcting misinformation and disinformation. These conversations also led to a stronger patient relationship. Pharmacists also said that VaxCheck could be tailored so that it was compatible with their workflow and that it was easy and straightforward.
However, staff members noted several barriers to the implementation of VaxCheck, including workload capacity, access to vaccination records, patient awareness of their vaccination status, and patient willingness to consider recommended immunizations. Although patients valued the service, they said that complexities in vaccine coverage and scope of practice limitations for pharmacists were potential barriers.
“Pharmacists in our study, and others, identify with playing a role in patient education and coaching to raise awareness and promote immunization,” the authors wrote. “Furthermore, training programs and initiatives aimed at improving pharmacists’ knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in immunization are reported to have positive outcomes on vaccination rates. We found pharmacists valued VaxCheck as it provided structure and guided conversation about vaccines, which added professionalism and helped avoid the appearance of promoting a specific vaccine.”
READ MORE: Immunization Resource Center
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