JAMA & ARCHIVES
Arch Fam Med
SEARCH
GO TO ADVANCED SEARCH
HOME  PAST ISSUES  TOPIC COLLECTIONS  CME  PHYSICIAN JOBS  CONTACT US  HELP
Institution: CLOCKSS  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In
  Vol. 3 No. 3, March 1994 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
 • Online Features
  Original Contributions
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal

An Organizational Strategy to Improve Adolescent Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in a Low Socioeconomic Population

A Method to Reduce Missed Opportunities

Peter G. Harper, MD, MPH; David M. Murray, PhD

Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(3):257-262.


Abstract



Objective
To determine whether a clinic organizational strategy can improve measles-mumps-rubella vaccination rates in adolescents by reducing missed opportunities.

Design
Nonequivalent control group design with a treatment clinic and a comparison clinic. Measurements were made for 8 months before intervention and for 9 months after intervention.

Setting
Two urban family practice clinics serving a low socioeconomic population.

Population
All clinic visits by adolescents aged 11 to 18 years.

Intervention
A clinic organizational strategy that systematically identified and vaccinated adolescents seen in the clinic for any reason.

Main Outcome Measures
Two vaccination indexes were measured monthly at each clinic: the percentage of eligible visits at which measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was given and the percentage of visits that were up to date, with adolescents having received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine at that visit or at a previous visit.

Results
The intervention resulted in a significant increase at the treatment clinic in the mean percentage of vaccinations given (from 7.8% to 17.4%) (Student's t=3.02; P=.0087) and the mean percentage of up-to-date visits (from 17.2% to 38.6%) (t=8.33; P<.0001). During the same period, there was no significant change in the mean vaccination rates in the comparison clinic.

Conclusions
An organizational strategy appears to be a useful method to reduce missed opportunities and improve measles-mumps-rubella vaccination rates in adolescents from a low socioeconomic population.



Author Affiliations



From the Department of Family Medicine, St Paul (Minn) Ramsey Medical Center (Dr Harper), and the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Dr Murray).



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Immunization Performance Measurement in a Changing Immunization Environment
Rodewald et al.
Pediatrics 1999;103:889-897.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Calculating a Clinic's Childhood Immunization Rate: Costs and Returns
Chapman and Hacker
Arch Fam Med 1995;4:625-627.
ABSTRACT  

Adolescent Measles Vaccination: Response Rates to Mailings Addressed to Patients vs Parents
Harper and Madlon-Kay
Arch Fam Med 1994;3:619-622.
ABSTRACT  

A STRATEGY TO BOOST MMR IMMUNIZATION IN ADOLESCENTS
JWatch General 1994;1994:6-6.
FULL TEXT  

Systems to Improve Clinical Prevention
Konen
Arch Fam Med 1994;3:223-224.
ABSTRACT  

The Role of Family Physicians in Immunization
Arch Fam Med 1994;3:225-227.
ABSTRACT  




HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | PHYSICIAN JOBS | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1994 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

DCSIMG