RN Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Background: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients are required to be seen in the CF clinic every three months. This results in frequent and lengthy visits to the clinic for testing and consults with providers. During influenza season, CF patients are told to go down to another floor to get vaccinations or to go to an outside establishment to get the vaccine. In most cases, the CF patient does not want to spend any more time at clinic, and definitely do not want anymore potential exposure. This results in them having to remember to get the vaccine elsewhere and make the time to do it. In an effort to get all the CF patients vaccinated appropriately and increase patient satisfaction, there needs to be a process improvement for CF patients and vaccination administration.
Methods: The Mayo Clinic Cystic Fibrosis team worked to improve the annual influenza vaccination compliance, by developing a process for vaccination administration during Cystic Fibrosis clinic (CFC). During CFC between September 2021 and March 2022, the nurse coordinator would administer the influenza vaccine to CF patients who consented. When the CF patient declined the vaccine or had already received it elsewhere, it was appropriately documented and recorded on spreadsheet. Post implementation was done by tracking the patients who had been vaccinated (outside of Mayo and at Mayo) and those who had not been (declined vaccine or unable to get information about vaccine status).
Results: During the 2020 influenza season, those who were thought to have been vaccinated were around 64%, all of which were outside vaccination records. When compared to the 2021 season where 92% of the patients were vaccinated, either at Mayo Clinic or outside with accurate documentation and validation. In 2020 reporting and documenting of influenza vaccination was not consistent or standardized. The team relied on the records which flowed over in the system. In 2021 the option to receive the vaccination in clinic provided in the clinic with more accurate information around the vaccine, increased vaccine compliance, and increased patient satisfaction.
Conclusions: The influenza vaccination process change has helped the team establish a more accurate and efficient way to document vaccinations and process to improve vaccination compliance.
