School districts across the country are implementing school based Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination programs. Because adolescents are at high risk of contracting HBV, these programs are important in preventing infections. Critical to the success of these programs is having qualified and cost effective health professionals to administer vaccine. This presentation will describe the recruitment and training of professional nurse volunteers to administer vaccines in school based clinics. In the 1998-99 school year in Durham, North Carolina approximately 60 nurses volunteered 300 hours of time to the program. Although in this first year, the cost of recruiting and training the volunteers exceeded the savings from salaried school nurse time, savings are expected in future years. Other benefits of recruiting volunteers to administer vaccine included allowing school nurses to remain in their usual assignments, increasing awareness of the health department mission and school health in the community, and improving collaborations between local health agencies. This project demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of using professional nurse volunteers as adjutants to paid staff to administer vaccines in school-based immunization clinics.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session the participant in this session will be able to: 1) Describe the steps in recruiting professional volunteers to administer vaccines in school based programs. 2) Describe the advantages of professional volunteer participation in school-based immunization programs.3) Discuss the potential problems of using volunteers to administer vaccines and how to address them
Keywords: Immunizations, Adolescent Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Durham County Health Department
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.