Pertussis Vaccination in Pregnant Women at the EMMC Family Medicine Center

Doughty, Elizabeth S

Item

Pertussis Vaccination in Pregnant Women at the EMMC Family Medicine Center

Doughty, Elizabeth S

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Abstract

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, primarily affects infants less than 12 months of age and frequently requires lengthy hospital stays. Maine has the 3rd highest rate of documented pertussis cases in the nation. Guidelines for prenatal vaccination recommend women receive pertussis vaccination during the third trimester of every pregnancy in order to protect the neonate. A small community project was designed to investigate adherence to prenatal vaccination guidelines. Rates of vaccination and electronic medical record (EMR) documentation for patient refusal were investigated for Jan. 1, 2016 - Aug. 1, 2016. Implementation of interventions focused on improving the rate of pertussis coverage in this population will require further follow up investigation to assess efficacy.