Vickie Winner

Date on Paper

8-2021

Document Type

Doctoral Paper

Degree Name

D.N.P.

Department

Nursing

Committee Chair

Aleshire, Mollie

Committee Member

Barton, Sharon

Author's Keywords

Tdap; whooping cough; cocooning; NICU; Tdap program

Abstract

Pertussis (whooping cough) is a highly contagious deadly disease for neonates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies primary caregivers (anyone caring for the infant in the home environment) as the most common source of neonatal pertussis. The CDC therefore recommends primary caregivers receive a booster tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine to reduce the transmission of pertussis to neonates. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project is to implement and evaluate an intervention to increase Tdap vaccination rates among primary caregivers of NICU patients. The specific aims of this quality improvement project are to 1) implement a multipronged intervention to increase Tdap vaccination rates among primary caregivers of NICU patients, 2) assess if there was a difference in Tdap vaccination rates of primary caregivers before and after intervention implementation, and 3) evaluate the primary caregivers' perspectives of the intervention. A multipronged evidence-based health promotion intervention about pertussis and the Tdap vaccine targeting primary caregivers, NICU nurses and NICU medical providers in a level IV Midwestern United States urban NICU was implemented for 41days. Four Tdap vaccines were administered to primary caregivers pre-intervention and 17 vaccines were administered post-intervention. There was a significant increase of 18.7% in the Tdap vaccination rate postintervention (p = 0.002). This QI project’s findings are congruent with evidence that providing Tdap vaccinations on-site, cost-free, with health promotion measures can increase Tdap vaccination rates among primary caregivers.

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS