Is the Use of Physician Reminder Sticker on Medical Records Effective for Improving the Rate of Recommending Influenza Vaccination?

Lee, Sarah; Song, Yun Mi; Choi, Jeong Ho; Han, Seung Heon

Abstract

BACKGROUND: For people who have high risk diseases or who are aged 65 years or more, routine influenza vaccination is required. However, in Korea, influenza vaccination rate of such people is low. We performed a study to assess the effectiveness of physician reminder in improving the rate of recommending influenza vaccination.
METHODS
Among the patients who registered to tertiary care hospital family clinic center, 305 patients with diabetes mellitus or aged 65 years or more were randomly assigned into physician reminder group and control group. After excluding the patients who were vaccinated before the medical consultation or who did not attend the clinic, remaining 253 patients were included as final study subjects. For the physician reminder group, a sticker showing that influenza vaccination was needed was placed on each medical record. Demographic and clinical characteristics, recommendation of vaccination by physician, and the receipt of vaccination were checked through self-administered questionnaires, review of medical chart and order communication system, and telephone interview.
RESULTS
The rates of recommending vaccination in the physician reminder group and the control group were 36% and 29.7%, respectively. The difference between the two groups was not significant. Vaccination rate in patients for whom influenza vaccination was recommended by their physician was 87.0%, whereas those for whom vaccination was not recommended was only 41.2%.
CONCLUSION
Physician reminder for influenza vaccination was not effective in this study. However, the physician's recommendation was effective in improving the influenza vaccination rate. Effective strategies will be needed to encourage physicians to recommend influenza vaccination.