Dataset Information

THE VAXED PROJECT: an assessment of immunization education in Canadian health professional programs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Knowledge & attitudes of healthcare providers (HCP) have significant impact on frequency with which vaccines are offered & accepted but many HCP are ill equipped to make informed recommendations about vaccine merits & risks. We performed an assessment of the educational needs of trainees regarding immunization and used the information thus ascertained to develop multi-faceted, evaluable, educational tools which can be integrated into formal education curricula.

Methods

(i) A questionnaire was sent to all Canadian nursing, medical & pharmacy schools to assess immunization-related curriculum content (ii) A 77-item web-based, validated questionnaire was emailed to final-year students in medicine, nursing, & pharmacy at two universities in Nova Scotia, Canada to assess knowledge, attitudes, & behaviors reflecting current immunization curriculum.

Results

The curriculum review yielded responses from 18%, 48%, & 56% of medical, nursing, & pharmacy schools, respectively. Time spent on immunization content varied substantially between & within disciplines from <1 to >50 hrs. Most schools reported some content regarding vaccine preventable diseases, immunization practice & clinical skills but there was considerable variability and fewer schools had learning objectives or formal evaluation in these areas. 74% of respondents didn't feel comfortable discussing vaccine side effects with parents/patients & only 21% felt they received adequate teaching regarding immunization during training.

Conclusions

Important gaps were identified in the knowledge of graduating nursing, medical, & pharmacy trainees regarding vaccine indications/contraindications, adverse events & safety. The national curriculum review revealed wide variability in immunization curriculum content & evaluation. There is clearly a need for educators to assess current curricula and adapt existing educational resources such as the Immunization Competencies for Health Professionals in Canada.

SUBMITTER: Pelly LP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3002370 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

THE VAXED PROJECT: an assessment of immunization education in Canadian health professional programs.

Pelly Lorine P LP Pierrynowski Macdougall Donna M DM Halperin Beth A BA Strang Robert A RA Bowles Susan K SK Baxendale Darlene M DM McNeil Shelly A SA

BMC medical education 20101126

<h4>Background</h4>Knowledge & attitudes of healthcare providers (HCP) have significant impact on frequency with which vaccines are offered & accepted but many HCP are ill equipped to make informed recommendations about vaccine merits & risks. We performed an assessment of the educational needs of trainees regarding immunization and used the information thus ascertained to develop multi-faceted, evaluable, educational tools which can be integrated into formal education curricula.<h4>Methods</h4> ...[more]

PMID: 21110845

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Dataset Information

THE VAXED PROJECT: an assessment of immunization education in Canadian health professional programs.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

THE VAXED PROJECT: an assessment of immunization education in Canadian health professional programs.

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