Feasibility of a Novel Combination of Influenza Vaccinations and Child Passenger Safety Seat Fittings in a Drive-through Clinic Setting

• Published in: Disaster medicine and public health preparedness Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 647 - 651
• Main Authors: Le, Ngoc, Charney, Rachel L., Gerard, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.12.2017
• Subjects: Ambulatory Care Facilities - organization & administration; Automobile Driving - education; Brief Reports; Child Restraint Systems; Child restraints; Child, Preschool; Disaster Medicine - methods; Disease control; Humans; Immunization; Infant; Influenza Vaccines - administration & dosage; Influenza, Human - therapy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Traffic accidents & safety; Vaccination - methods; Vaccines; United States > US; community health planning; safety management; emergency preparedness; influenza vaccines; public health
• ISSN: 1935-7893; 1938-744X
• DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2017.3

Public health preparedness is an ever-evolving area of medicine with the purpose of helping the masses quickly and efficiently. The drive-through clinic (DTC) model allows the distribution of supplies or services while participants remain in their cars. Influenza vaccination is the most common form of DTC and has been utilized successfully in metropolitan areas. We hypothesized that combining influenza vaccinations and child passenger seat fittings in a DTC format would be both feasible and desired by the community. Each driver was verbally surveyed at each DTC station. The project was a combination of patient survey and observation. In the inaugural 6-hour DTC session, 86 cars were served and contained 161 children, of which 28 also participated in child passenger seat fittings. The median total clinic time regardless of services rendered was 9.0 minutes (interquartile range [IQR]: 6.0, 14.0 minutes). For those who received only an influenza vaccine, the median total time was 7.5 minutes (IQR: 6.0, 10.0 minutes). For those who received both services, the median total time was 27 minutes (IQR: 22.3, 33.5 minutes) with an average of 1.75 child passenger seat fittings per automobile. This was a pilot study involving 2 different services using the DTC model and the first of its kind in the literature. The DTC was successful in executing both services without sacrificing speed, convenience, or patient satisfaction. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate the efficacy of the multiple-service DTC model. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:647-651).