KEYWORDS:
Immunization Education, Immunization Resources

BACKGROUND:
The well-used, battered, and bruised 1997 GOT YOUR SHOTS? manual needed to be updated. Providers had come to rely on it for quick and simple answers to their immunization questions.

OBJECTIVE(S):
To develop an up-to-date second edition of the 1997 GOT YOUR SHOTS? manual with less text, more practical charts, and an expanded index.

METHOD(S):
The second edition was created using an internal team, an outside review panel of health providers, and input from evaluations of the first edition. The 10 sections of the first edition were divided up among staff so that each section had a lead author. From this reworked material, the coordinators assembled draft #1, which was then reviewed by all the team members. Once the team's changes were made, the outside review panel reviewed the draft. From this draft, the final copy was created and sent to the printer. A professional indexer compiled an in-depth index.

RESULT(S):
The second edition was distributed to all "immunizers" in Minnesota. Updates are placed on the MDH web site. The manual is also presented during AFIX visits, and hotline staff shows callers how to use it to find answers to their questions. Other states have expressed interest in adapting the Minnesota manual.

CONCLUSIONS(S):
The manual was produced in unavoidable choppy waters - team disagreements, stressful deadlines, difficulty in simplifying complicated material, etc. But it was worth it! The second edition has made for smoother sailing for Minnesota health care professionals who need quick and simple answers to their immunization questions.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Use Minnesota's GOT YOUR SHOTS? A Providers Guide to Immunization manual as a blueprint to create other state manuals. Learn one method on how to use a team to create health education materials.