BACKGROUND:
Immunizations are a highly efficacious prevention measure for both adults and children. Effective delivery of vaccinations has operational requirements that must be considered by every vaccination program. To help guide health care providers and facilities, research into the various strategies for meeting operational requirements and overcoming barriers to vaccination have been published by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee and are collectively known as the Standards. There is evidence that these Standards have not been widely and consistently adopted by health care facilities. This presentation reports on findings into some of the possible causes.

OBJECTIVE:
To clarify the lexicon of the Standards for providers and administrators.

METHOD:
Industrial Engineering principles were used to review the Standards and map whether they met the criteria of policies, protocols and procedures.

RESULT:
The Standards include a combination of all three types of guidelines. This presentation reviews the difference between these three types of guides, their mapping to the specific Standards, implications to whom, and how the Standards could be written and disseminated to facilitate adoption by agencies.

CONCLUSION:
We hope that this study will 1) help clarify methods for accelerating the uptake of the Standards, 2) help facilities adopt the current Standards; and 3) guide the development of future Standards.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Apply industrial engineering principles to review strategies for implementing immunization standards.