The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is pleased to have your participation in its Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project. Twenty family medicine practices are involved in this project and we are excited to work with all of you to increase child and adolescent immunization rates. The intent of the project is to provide tools and effective strategies for developing a culture that promotes the importance of child and adolescent immunizations in your practice setting.
The project will utilize a multi-faceted approach, which consists of three elements:
AAFP Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project
- Completion of the AAFP’s METRIC Childhood and Adolescent Immunization performance improvement modules.
- Utilization of a Practice Manual which will include evidence-based guidelines, clinician and patient resources, templates and guidance on how to integrate key interventions for increasing child and adolescent immunizations into the practice setting.
- Ongoing project support via conference calls and an online learning community to address challenges and make suggestions for successful implementation.
Expectations of Project Teams
Immunizations are one of the greatest public health achievements, however national data continue to show that immunization rates remain well below Healthy People 2020 goals. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates are of specific concern. Additionally, substantial local variation in immunization rates for children, and continued outbreaks of pertussis, measles and H. influenza type b, indicate that vaccination levels are inadequate. To help improve child and adolescent immunization rates, the AAFP is partnering with family medicine practices to address this need through the Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project.
The project will focus on the following key areas:
The project will focus on the following key areas:
- Improving strong recommendations for child and adolescent vaccines.
- Reducing missed opportunities to immunize child and adolescent patients.
- Increasing parental awareness and acceptance of child and adolescent vaccines, and addressing myths and misconceptions.
- Implementing evidence-based practices to improve vaccine coverage.
The Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project teams must agree to:
- Complete an AAFP Conflict of Interest Form (option 2 only)
- Complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) course (an online course which takes approximately 1-2 hours to complete)
- Complete a Consent Form for the project.
- Have the designated family physician in the practice complete the AAFP METRIC Childhood and Adolescent Immunization performance improvement modules.
- Conduct two chart reviews of 25 random child patient charts and 25 random adolescent patient charts, following parameters distributed during the course of the project.
- Develop an action plan to implement office system changes to increase child and adolescent immunization rates in the practice's daily office routines.
- Participate in the Child and Adolescent Immunization Project Community (monthly topic discussions).
- The designated physician and/or office champions will participate in quarterly conference calls and training webinars.
- Complete two practice surveys at the pre- and post-intervention phase.
- Complete a post-project interview with AAFP project staff.
Recognition and Compensation
The selected AAFP Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project practices will receive $3,000 to cover administrative costs. Payments will be made based on the following milestones:
- $1,000 awarded following completion of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative course, teleconference, pre-project survey, staff meeting, and submission of an implementation plan (approximately July 2013).
- $1,000 awarded following completion of both the AAFP METRIC Childhood and Adolescent Immunization performance improvement modules (approximately February 2014).
- $1,000 awarded following completion of all phases of the program including a post-project survey and interview (approximately April 2014).
- $25 registration fee for participation in each of the AAFP METRIC Childhood and Adolescent Immunization performance improvement modules to be paid by AAFP. Upon successful completion of the METRIC module, the family physician (Physician Champion) will receive 40 prescribed CME credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Once the program is completed, your practice will receive recognition materials including:
- A recognition certificate that reads: "This practice is recognized by the American Academy of Family Physicians for excellence in child and adolescent immunizations."
- A press release you can send to your local newspaper.
- A certificate for your Office Champion, indicating he or she has completed the AAFP Child and Adolescent Immunization Office Champions Project.
- An article for your patient newsletter.
- Tips on holding a recognition ceremony for staff.
- Tips on publicizing your champion status.
Additionally, your practice and others who complete the project will receive recognition in appropriate AAFP communication vehicles.
Project Timeline
The total duration of this project is 18 months. The duration of the implementation phase is seven months, approximately June through December 2013.
Resources
- 2013 Immunization Schedules -Each year, recommendations for routine use of vaccines in children, adolescents, and adults in the United States are developed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).The immunization schedules are provided as guidance on the use of all the vaccines in the schedules, including contraindications and precautions to use of a vaccine.
- Provider Resources for Vaccine Conversations with Parents (CDC/AAFP) -This material will help you to assess parents’ needs, identify the role they want to play in making decision for their child’s health, and then communicate in ways that meet their needs.
- AAFP METRIC Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Performance Improvement Modules - Guided quality improvement modules that will help family physicians and their practices assess baseline childhood and adolescent immunization performance and implement interventions for improvement.
- AAFP Child and Adolescent Immunization Project Community -A learning community that will assist the project teams in sharing information. The project teams will participate in discussion topics through the learning community.
Questions?
This project is supported by an educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
