Background: It has been reported that vaccination rates with pneumococcal vaccine are low in elderly persons in Japan. The primary aim of this study was to examine whether introduction of a vaccination status checkbox in electronic medical records increased the vaccination rates.
Methods: Subjects were inpatients and outpatients in the Department of General Medicine at Juntendo University Hospital between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2018. The vaccination rates of individuals that were over the age of 65 were calculated based on a checkbox in the electronic medical records.
Results: A total of 30,580 people over the age of 65 were evaluated. The vaccination rate (19.5%) for individuals over the age of 65 after introducing a regular vaccination schedule was significantly higher than the vaccination rate (8.4%) before introducing the schedule (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: With the introduction of a regular vaccination schedule for the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination （PPV23）targeting elderly individuals since October 2014 in Japan, an improvement in the vaccination rate by the introduction of a checkbox to indicate a patient’s vaccination status in the electronic medical records was shown. We also reviewed the database of elderly patients who were diagnosed as pneumonia. Prior vaccination was found associated with all-cause shorter hospital stays and less medical expenditure compared with no vaccination. Our findings support that vaccination rates with pneumococcal vaccine in elderly people would be a good quality indicator for primary care physicians.
