Volume 53, Issue 6 p. 1008-1010

Standing Orders in an Ambulatory Setting Increases Influenza Vaccine Usage in Older People

Lynne J. Goebel MD, FACP

Lynne J. Goebel MD, FACP

From the * Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Shirley M. Neitch MD, FACP

Shirley M. Neitch MD, FACP

From the * Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Maurice A. Mufson MD, MACP

Maurice A. Mufson MD, MACP

From the * Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia.

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First published: 31 May 2005
Citations: 22
Address correspondence to Lynne J. Goebel, MD, Marshall University Medical Center, 1600 Medical Center Drive, Suite G500, Huntington, WV 25701. E-mail: [email protected]

Presented at Southern Society for Clinical Investigation Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 14, 2004.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether standing orders for influenza vaccine increase its usage in an ambulatory setting in elderly patients.

Design: Retrospective analysis of influenza vaccine usage over 4 years (1999–2002).

Setting: University ambulatory setting.

Participants: Overall, 912 elderly patients of two physicians who issued standing orders and 884 elderly patients of two physicians who did not do so constituted the study group.

Measurements: Physicians were categorized as to whether they issued a verbal or written standing order to their nurses to administer the influenza vaccine to patients aged 65 and older. Rates of influenza vaccination of patients whose physicians used standing orders were compared with those of physicians who did not use standing orders.

Results: Five hundred seventy-six (63%) patients of physicians who used standing orders received influenza vaccine, compared with 332 (38%) patients of physicians who did not use them (P<.001). Standing orders accounted for a significantly higher rate of influenza vaccination in each study year. Moreover, in 2001, when influenza vaccine delivery was delayed, physicians who used standing orders maintained their same rate of usage, but physicians who did not had rates of about one-half their usage of the other 3 years.

Conclusion: More Medicare recipients received influenza vaccine when their physicians used standing orders for its administration than when their physicians did not. Influenza vaccine represents an important prevention modality that demands widespread implementation, and standing orders can increase its usage.