Abstract
Introduction
Influenza is highly contagious, vaccine-preventable, and may result in significant
morbidity and mortality. While vaccination is the primary protection against influenza,
vaccination rates remain low. Traditionally, primary care clinics, retail pharmacies,
and public health departments offer influenza vaccines. However, offering influenza
vaccines in new settings may increase their availability to the public and increase
community uptake. This project aimed to add emergency departments as a new influenza
vaccine location to increase the number of vaccines distributed during the 2020 to
2021 influenza season.
Methods
Adult patients discharged from 24 emergency departments were included in this pre-
post-intervention project. A nurse-driven order set was established to enhance efficiency.
Education materials (scripting, fliers, etc.) were developed to help nurses feel comfortable
with vaccine information.
Results
Nurses indicated that education helped increase their belief that influenza vaccination
was important. After completing the educational material, a higher number of nurses
agreed that it was necessary to encourage others to be vaccinated (P < 0.05). Moreover, emergency department influenza vaccinations increased significantly
throughout the 2020 to 2021 influenza season. Nurses across all 24 hospitals administered
2002 vaccines during this season compared to 9 during the previous year’s season.
Discussion
The project demonstrated that delivering influenza vaccinations in emergency departments
is challenging yet achievable. Educational offerings were valuable resources to increase
nurses’ knowledge and positive attitudes about providing influenza vaccines to patients.
Further studies regarding how vaccinations could be provided in more emergency departments
and alternative care sites, such as urgent care and clinics other than primary care
providers, are needed.
Key words
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Biography
Stacie Hunsaker, Member, Sigma Theta Tau International Chapter Iota Iota, is an Associate Teaching Professor, Brigham Young University College of Nursing; is an IQSIP Chair, Utah State Emergency Nurses Association; and is an Emergency Nurse, Intermountain Healthcare, Provo, Utah. Twitter: @HunsakerStacie. ORCID identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6647-3773.
Biography
Larry Garrett is an Assistant Clinical Professor, University of Utah College of Nursing, Salt Lake City, UT. ORCID identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-00001-7619-1710.
Biography
Katreena Merrill, Member, Sigma Theta Tau International Chapter Iota Iota, is a Professor, Brigham Young University College of Nursing, Provo, UT. Twitter: @MerrillKatreena. ORCID identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6014-4776.
Biography
Rachelle Rhodes is a Clinical Operations Specialty Based Care Executive Director, Emergency Department-Trauma Lane, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 30, 2023
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
