THE VAXED PROJECT: an assessment of immunization education in Canadian health professional programs.
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.
Canadian Center for Vaccinology, IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University, Dr. Richard B. Goldbloom RCC Pavilion, 4th Floor, 5850/5980 University Avenue, PO BOX 9700, Halifax, NS, B3K 6R8, Canada.
Lorine P
LP
Pelly
Donna M
DM
Pierrynowski Macdougall
Beth A
BA
Halperin
Robert A
RA
Strang
Susan K
SK
Bowles
Darlene M
DM
Baxendale
Shelly A
SA
McNeil
D002170:Canada; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014611:Vaccination
D007252:Influenza Vaccines