A reexamination of the feasibility of the administration of routine childhood vaccines in emergency departments in the era of electronic vaccine registries

OBJECTIVES: To determine if electronic vaccine records facilitate successful routine childhood vaccination in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: We sampled consecutively over 2 calendar months children younger than 24 months presenting to the ED. Parents and legal guardians of eligible children were offered enrollment. Those consenting completed a parental survey after a nurse conducted an initial assessment of eligibility. Attending physicians then completed the assessment- and after the visit- the electronic vaccination records- when available- were accessed. No actual routine childhood vaccines were given during the study. RESULTS: Three hundred thirty-four were approached: 17 (5.1%) declined participation/ 10 (3.0%) were enrolled- but the data were lost- and 7 (2.1%) were excluded. Of the 300 remaining- 235 (78.3%) had available electronic vaccine records. Only 38 (16.2%) of the 235 were late for at least 1 vaccine. Of note- physicians assessed 22 (57.9%) of the 38 as medically appropriate for vaccin