ADULT VACCINATION – HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMUNIZATION - ADULT VACCINE - ADULT IMMUNIZATIONS

The following professional materials are designed as ready-to-use resources to help health care providers implement key strategies for educating adults about the importance of vaccination and improving adult vaccination rates.

This can be placed on the back of appointment cards (either mailed or handed to patients), to remind patients about the importance of vaccination.
Appointment Reminder Cards

If your practice has an existing “office closed” recording, it can be tailored to highlight important adult immunization messages. This suggested script can be incorporated within the office’s main recording, urging patients to be proactive about their health by asking about vaccinations.
Office Closed Script

This script can be customized and recorded as the message patients hear when they are on hold to schedule an appointment or speak with office or clinical staff. This reinforces the need for immunity and asks patients to schedule a vaccination appointment.
On Hold Script

This fact sheet is designed to give patients some “at a glance” facts about vaccine-preventable diseases and why vaccination is important. Making this available to patients in your waiting room may help reduce the time you need to spend explaining about vaccines and the diseases they prevent.
Patient Fact Sheet

This document is designed to inform patients about the current vaccines available to protect adults against serious infectious diseases, and to answer some common questions they may have about adult immunization. This comprehensive document can be given to patients who want more information than is available on the fact sheet.
Patient Q&A

The poster and tabletop tent cards remind patients and office staff about the importance of vaccinating adults to prevent serious infectious diseases. They can be prominently displayed in waiting rooms to encourage patients to ask about immunization. They can also be displayed at the local pharmacy near the pharmacist’s window or in any other health care setting where patients may be receptive to such reminders.
Poster
Tabletop Tent Cards

Health care practices with a Web site or patient newsletter can use this article to further educate patients about the importance of adult immunization against infectious diseases.
Practice Newsletter/Web Article

These postcards can be mailed to their respective audience to encourage scheduling an appointment with their health care provider. The language can be cut and pasted onto a stock-paper postcard or incorporated into a pre-existing mailing and distributed to patients. Some printers have the capability to print double-sided, and if not then print first side, flip page, and then print the other side. Avery Labels contain postcard printing templates.

	Adult Children of Elderly Parents Mail to adult children of elderly patients to schedule an appointment with their health care provider.
	Adult Patients Mail to patients to schedule an appointment with their health care provider to get vaccinated against serious infectious diseases.

This list of resources and recommended readings provides additional, detailed information about disease prevention and adult immunization.
Resource List

Standing Orders allow non-physicians to vaccinate patients based on specific criteria developed and approved by an authorized prescriber of medical care. Standing Orders have been shown to have significant impact on improving vaccination rates. This page provides links to sample Standing Orders that you can use as models in developing your own.

This toolkit from the Group on Immunization Education of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine contains information about standing orders protocols for adult immunization.