APhA recognizes 2016’s Immunization Champions

Abstract

Clinic, a walk-in clinic for patients aged 15 years and older, at a large Indian Health Service medical center in Phoenix. But providing only 10% of the vaccines given on campus, the clinic’s reach isn’t great enough for Van Lew. “We want vaccines addressed at every visit,” Van Lew said. Primary care alone, she noted, can’t cover all adult vaccines. Patients may have many specialty visits between less frequent primary care visits at the time immunizations are due. Van Lew aimed to standardize the approach to immunizations across the medical center campus. Through education campaigns, she has motivated nurses to embrace CDC recommendations to address immunizations at every visit. She successfully advocated for a protocol that would allow all nurses to offer routine vaccines anywhere on campus. In 2015, she provided 20 education sessions to more than 250 providers across specialties and professions to increase vaccine awareness, integrate vaccination into workflows, and devise better ways to use electronic health records and screening tools in this endeavor. Nationally, Van Lew has collaborated on research with CDC and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases to better understand and improve adult vaccination rates. “I get involved in so many different arenas because there’s so many different ways we can impact vaccination rates—not just in the clinic.” In 2015, on Van Lew’s watch, more than 44,000 vaccines were administered to children and adults in her health system, substantially increasing immunization rates for zoster, human papillomavirus, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis.