title: Effect of an audiovisual message for tetanus booster vaccination broadcast in the waiting room.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General practitioners (GPs) often lack time and resources to invest in health education; audiovisual messages broadcast in the waiting room may be a useful educational tool. This work was designed to assess the effect of a message inviting patients to ask for a tetanus booster vaccination.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quasi experimental study was conducted in a Belgian medical practice consisting of 6 GPs and 4 waiting rooms (total: 20,000 contacts/year). A tetanus booster vaccination audiovisual message was continuously broadcast for 6 months in 2 randomly selected waiting rooms (intervention group--3 GPs) while the other 2 waiting rooms remained unequipped (control group--3 GPs). At the end of the 6-month period, the number of vaccine adult-doses delivered by local pharmacies in response to GPs' prescriptions was recorded. As a reference, the same data were also collected retrospectively for the general practice during the same 6-month period of the previous year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 6-month reference period where no audiovisual message was broadcast in the 4 waiting rooms, the number of prescriptions presented for tetanus vaccines was respectively 52 (0.44%) in the intervention group and 33 (0.38%) in the control group (p = 0.50). By contrast, during the 6-month study period, the number of prescriptions differed between the two groups (p < 0.0001), rising significantly to 91 (0.79%) in the intervention group (p = 0.0005) while remaining constant in the control group (0.38% vs 0.39%; p = 0.90).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Broadcasting an audiovisual health education message in the GPs' waiting room was associated with a significant increase in the number of adult tetanus booster vaccination prescriptions delivered by local pharmacies.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Santé Intégrée des Carrières, rue Vieille Voie de Liège, 1, B-4140 Sprimont, Belgium.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eubelen
authors.forename: Fannette
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brendel
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Belche
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Freyens
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vanbelle
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D001530:Belgium; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D022422:Diphtheria-Tetanus Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D015721:Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D058006:General Practice / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007117:Immunization, Secondary / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019035:Rural Health Services; D013742:Tetanus / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013745:Tetanus Toxoid / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D022422:Diphtheria-Tetanus Vaccine; D015721:Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine; D013745:Tetanus Toxoid