Improving Pneumococcal Immunization Rates Among Hospitalized Adults.

The morbidity and mortality associated with pneumococcal pneumonia can be prevented with access to vaccines and treatment. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to examine how the utilization of the discharge computer entry order set with an electronic pneumococcal vaccine screening tool, pharmacy notifications, and nursing tasks increased the vaccination rates among discharged patient population sufficiently. Changing the process of when the patient is screened for the pneumococcal vaccine and utilizing functions of the electronic medical record greatly improved the immunization rate of discharged patients. Due to the success of this process improvement project, other immunizations given during hospitalization are being screened and administered at discharge.