In both local and national sectors of the United States, missed pneumococcal immunizations in patients 65 years and older is a significant problem. The outcome of missed immunizations can create poor health outcomes for patients, and become burdensome to healthcare systems. The use of electronic medical record pneumococcal vaccination flags, and staff education hypthetically offers a solution to missed immunizations. Decreasing missed immunizations improves patient health by encouraging preventative medicine, thus reducing occurrences of pneumonia. Evidence-Based Framework: The quality improvement project, conducted at the Gordon Clinic, implemented staff education and EMR pneumococcal vaccinations flags in attempt to increase pneumococcal immunization rates in patients 65 years and older. The Stevens Star Model of Knowledge Transformation and Lewin’s Change Management Theory were used as the evidence-based practice model and theory to develop and guide the project. Method: The objectives of the project were to change provider practice through several system-wide interventions, including: (1) implementing staff education about the importance of pneumococcal immunizations in patients 65 years and older; (2) implementing and electronic medical record pneumococcal vaccination flag to serve as a staff reminder; (3) posting patient education flyers in the waiting rooms to increase patient knowledge. The goal of the project was to increase pneumococcal immunization rates in patients 65 years and older at the Gordon Clinic. Evaluation of the project was determined by comparing the number of pneumococcal immunizations adminstered during the post-intervention time frame, with the pre-intervention rate during the same period of time in the previous year. Data were collected using a self-made collection tool. The results of the project will be utilized to highlight the impact of staff education EMR pneumococcal flag use and patient education flyer placement on increasing pneumococcal immunization rates in patients 65 years and older. Findings: The implementation of staff education, EMR flags, and patient education flyers was associated with an increase in immunization rates to 7% immunized, compared to 3% during the same time period in the previous year, before implementation of this project. Conclusion/Recommendations: Based on the results of this quality improvement project, use of provider education, EMR flags, and patient education flyers is recommended in rural health clinic settings. Areas for future study include extending the study to include all immunizations across the life span, and studying the financial benefits and costs to the clinic and to patients.
