Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation, participants will understand factors that affect processing time required in a mass vaccination site focused on senior citizens.

Background:
Public-health officials need estimates of patient factors that affect time for patient screening and vaccination when planning large-scale vaccination clinics.

Objectives:
To describe the average time through the screening and vaccination process in a large-scale vaccination clinic, and to identify vaccinee characteristics associated with this time.

Methods:
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) Community-Based Mass Vaccination Site was held in October, 2005. The event was targeted towards high priority groups for influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations. Medical screening forms were completed by patients and then reviewed by screening staff who determined which vaccine(s) should be administered by vaccination teams. For each clinic attendee, PDPH staff measured the time from the beginning of the screening process until completion of vaccination. We evaluated associations between patient factors and time through the screening and vaccination process while adjusting for number of staff on duty.

Results:
The median age of patients was 74 years (range 22 to 100). The median time through screening and vaccination was 4.5 minutes (range 1 to 19 minutes). Preliminary analysis shows that patients' time through was increased by 1 minute for pneumococcal vaccine administration and by 3 minutes when patients were disabled or required special needs. Processing time was not associated with patient age, presence of chronic medical condition, reported allergy to eggs or previous vaccine reaction. Average time decreased over the course of the event.

Conclusions:
Most of the attendees were processed in a short time, but those with special needs took longer. These measurements can be used to adjust staffing needs for administering multiple vaccinations or for populations with special needs.