71 Background: Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for individuals 6 months and older. Older adults are at high-risk of developing influenza and complications associated with the virus. However, < 50% of patients with cancer receive the influenza vaccine annually. In previous work at our institution, a quality improvement project identified that only 40% of adult patients initiating parenteral anticancer therapy between September and December 2017 were documented to have received the influenza vaccine. Therefore, a multidisciplinary student pharmacist-directed pilot intervention was developed to improve influenza vaccine documentation and administration rates, and we sought to investigate the impact of this intervention. Methods: All adult patients (≥65 years old) scheduled for parenteral anticancer therapy during November 2018 were screened for influenza vaccination documentation. Patients were identified by reviewing infusion center schedule. Under supervision of board-certified oncology pharmacists, two student pharmacists evaluated influenza vaccination documentation in the institution/network electronic medical record (EMR) and outside records. Patients with unknown vaccination history were identified for interview by pharmacy students. The student pharmacists collaborated with oncology nurses and clinicians to order and administer influenza vaccine to patients who agreed to vaccination. Influenza vaccination status was updated in the EMR following record reviews/interviews. Results: Student pharmacists screened 617 patient EMRs and interviewed 124 patients to verify vaccination status. Furthermore, 33 patients received influenza vaccination as a direct result of student pharmacist intervention. Overall, rate of influenza vaccination status documentation was 60.5%. Conclusions: Compared with historic data, we found promising results for a student pharmacist-directed pilot intervention, which demonstrated the potential to improve influenza vaccination status documentation and administration among older adults receiving parenteral anticancer therapy.
Assessing Influenza Vaccine Utilization in Physician Offices Serving Adult Patients
