KEYWORDS:
Registry, community-based organizations, outreach and tracking
BACKGROUND:
Assessing the impact of community-based organizations (CBOs) immunization outreach on vaccination coverage is challenging. Immunization registries offer this capability, but only if the children tracked are included in the registry.
OBJECTIVE(S):
Assess the usefulness of an immunization registry for tracking children enrolled in community-based programs.
METHOD(S):
In 2000, 23 CBOs in Northern Manhattan, NYC, launched an outreach program. By April 2002, 1,082 children <5 years old enrolled in the program. The child's name and birthday were used to search for records in a two-year old, web-based registry serving a practice network. We calculated match rates for children and immunizations.
RESULT(S):
One-third of children (n=380) in the immunization outreach program were located in the registry. Of these, 52% matched exactly by name and birthday; another 48% were probable matches, allowing for spelling discrepancies in the child's name and birthday errors within 3 days. Of the 2,288 immunizations recorded by outreach workers for these children, 29% were found in the registry. Allowing for a 3-day date discrepancy increased the immunization match rate by 1%.
CONCLUSIONS(S):
An immunization registry had limited effectiveness for assisting immunizations for a community immunization outreach program. Immunization records collected by community outreach workers can contribute to registry completeness.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Usefulness of immunization registry for community outreach.
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