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Keeping your vaccine management plan updated is an important part of any healthcare practice as it can save your practice significant amounts of time and money in the event of an issue such as a power failure or other unexpected event that could put vaccines at risk or cause them to become compromised.
Having an Action Plan
Creating a plan and keeping it up-to-date is the first step in having a vaccine management plan. A plan is necessary to ensure that the vaccines that are provided to patients are viable and safe for use. The plan should include items such as contact information for those who are responsible for maintaining and controlling the vaccines, the incorporation of vaccine refrigerators for storage, the notation of the temperatures at which the vaccines are to be stored, logs of the temperatures in the storage container, a cold chain management log, and other items that may be deemed necessary for a particular practice. Having an action plan in place that covers the basics of day-to-day management as well as what to do in the event of an emergency – such as how to handle a loss of power – can save the practice significant amounts of money.
Providing Quality Vaccinations
Healthcare providers are expected to provide quality care during every visit. This extends to providing quality vaccinations and allowing patients to be assured that the vaccinations that they are receiving will do what they are intended to do. Providing a quality vaccination ties directly to the vaccine management practices that a healthcare provider uses. Tracking each step of the vaccines’ stay with a practice allows the delivering physician to use those vaccines with confidence, knowing that they have not been compromised in any way.
Vaccine refrigerators are an important piece of the quality puzzle and should be reviewed to ensure that they are set for the appropriate temperature requirements and regularly monitored.
Reducing Expenses
Having a good vaccine management plan in place can also help to reduce expenses. This is especially true in an event such as a power loss, which might otherwise result in the loss of all vaccinations on hand; this is not only a significant expense in terms of replacing the vaccinations, but it may cost additional time and scheduling issues for a practice as they have to wait for replacements to arrive. All of these things cost a practice time and money and can negatively impact their reputation.
It is important for anyone in the healthcare industry who administers or transports vaccinations to have an active and up-to-date vaccine management plan. Reviewing the plan at least annually against any changes to the state recommendations is a good step in keeping the process updated, along with reviewing the plan whenever there is turnover or staffing changes. This will help to protect the vaccinations themselves and ensure that the practice is up-to-date and aware of the steps needed when handling the vaccines.
