Improving Adult Vaccination Rates to Save Lives

October 25, 2006

West Des Moines, Iowa - Pneumococcal disease kills thousands of people in the United States each year, most of them 65 years of age or older. There is a vaccine to protect adults against pneumococcal disease. The vaccine has been available for more than 20 years and is recommended for routine use in everyone 65 years of age and older. Still, more than 150,000 Iowans this age have never received the pneumococcal vaccine.

Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by a type of bacteria. When these bacteria invade the lungs they can cause pneumonia. They can also invade the bloodstream (bacteremia) or the tissues and fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord (meningitis). The vaccine protects against the 23 different types of bacteria that are responsible for more than 90 percent of all pneumococcal disease cases.

The Iowa Foundation for Medical Care is working with health care providers across the state to increase pneumococcal vaccination rates. "We identified an opportunity that was being overlooked. Patients in the hospital were not being vaccinated. We started working to change that," said Tim Gutshall, M.D., Iowa Foundation for Medical Care.

Cass County Memorial Hospital was ready for the challenge. They discovered they were rarely giving immunizations to their inpatients. "We provided staff education for nurses, pharmacists and physicians, changed our processes and posted our results around the facility so everyone could see how we were doing," said Bev Mendenhall, Cass County Memorial Hospital, director of Performance Improvement. "It took time and a lot of effort to reach our goal but we did it. We are providing the services our patients need and that's important to us. Feed back reporting to staff and continued efforts to emphasize the importance of vaccinating our patients has enabled us to meet our goal of giving the vaccine to 100% of eligible patients for 6 of the last 7 quarters."

"Cass County Memorial now serves as a role model for other facilities tackling the same issue and experiencing similar barriers," said Gutshall. "We recognize them not only for their commitment to improving care at their facility but also for sharing what they have learned with other health care providers."

Media Contacts:
Deb Innis 515-440-8224