Development and evaluation of an interprofessional student-led influenza vaccination clinic for medical, nursing and pharmacy students

Abstract

Background: Students in their final years of medicine, nursing and pharmacy degrees were invited to participate in an interprofessional influenza vaccination training course and clinic. Twenty-four students (8 from each discipline) were selected to participate. After vaccination training these students administered free influenza vaccines under supervision in two student-led clinics to 546 students in health and allied health programs prior to their clinical placements. Objective: To evaluate the students' experience of the interprofessional vaccination training and clinic, and to evaluate the experiences of students who received their vaccination in the student-led clinic. Methods: Before and after participating, students completed a questionnaire evaluating their perceived knowledge of influenza vaccinations, and their skills and confidence in administering vaccinations and the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Eighteen students completed both the pre-and post-questionnaires. All students who received their flu vaccination were also asked to complete a short patient evaluation survey. Results: The course resulted in significant increases in the students' perceived knowledge of influenza vaccinations (27.5% increase, p<0.001), skills in managing patients receiving influenza vaccines (23.9% increase, p<0.001) and confidence level to administer influenza vaccines (46.0% increase, p<0.001). While there was no significant change in any subscales of the RIPLS, open-ended responses indicated that the students enjoyed and could see the benefits of meeting and learning with and from students from other health disciplines. Of the students who received their influenza vaccination, 97.7% were very likely or somewhat likely to recommend the clinic to fellow students. Conclusion: The interprofessional vaccination training and influenza vaccination clinic provided effective interprofessional vaccination training and afforded an authentic interprofessional experiential opportunity.

Development and Assessment of Innovative High-Fidelity Simulation Vaccination Course Integrating Emergency Cases for Pharmacy Undergraduates—A Randomized Controlled Study

“…Through the application of HFS in this study, there was an integration of different emergency cases—potentially arising after vaccination administration—that may or may not be directly related to vaccination, such as asthma exacerbation. As an aside, other studies on vaccination training have only focused on anaphylactic reactions [ 50 , 52 , 53 ]. Students in the HFS group particularly demonstrated significantly better performance in terms of recognizing and handling emergency situations.…”

“…However, it must be stressed that these participants’ perception of their ability was at variance from their actual performance during the study. Their lack of confidence could be addressed by scheduling trainings at an early stage and assigning the students with a responsibility to vaccinate, such as what was demonstrated by Peter R. Caroll and colleagues when they developed a student-led vaccination clinic for the purposes of training medical, nursing, and pharmacy students [ 52 ].…”

Vaccination Training for Pharmacy Undergraduates as a Compulsory Part of the Curriculum?—A Multicentric Observation

“…The training was found to have a positive impact on students’ knowledge and skills. Another investigation examined the impact of inter-professional training on vaccination administration, where participants from the health disciplines of medicine, nursing and pharmacy received training and ran an immunization clinic [ 28 ]. The investigators found a significant increase in knowledge, confidence and skills regarding influenza vaccination.…”

Vaccine Acceptance During a Novel Student-led Emergency Department COVID-19 Vaccination Program

“…In addition to scheduling patients in our institution’s vaccine clinic, we vaccinated 68 patients in the ED in two months using student-led patient screening and education. Past studies have shown the value of involving medical and pharmacy students in influenza vaccination initiatives, 12 , 13 , 18 but to our knowledge, studies about student-facilitated, ED-based COVID-19 vaccination programs are lacking. We found a higher vaccine acceptance rate after a brief educational intervention and that more vaccines were given when students were present.…”

“…[9][10][11] The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) pilot study was to improve vaccine uptake among patients offered COVID-19 vaccination in the ED. While it can be difficult for the care team to have thoughtful conversations with vaccinehesitant patients due to time constraints, other resources such as students 12,13 may be available. Therefore, in this study we examine COVID-19 vaccine acceptance using medical and pharmacy students as dedicated COVID-19 vaccine screeners for ED patients.…”