Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation participants will be able to understand how using a PDA to perform school/daycare immunization audits can improve production and accuracy by eliminating worksheets and decreasing time needed to compile reports.



Background:
After requesting a school immunization audit spreadsheet for a laptop computer, a PDA program was suggested. A program was developed that decreases the time necessary to compile scores on paper and transfer information to a spreadsheet.


Setting:
12 public, private and parochial school systems with 242 schools and 115,800 students.


Population:
The heaviest populated county in the state (658,141) with mostly urban areas.


Project Description:
We submitted all audit worksheets, summary forms and report forms, meeting twice, also collaborating by phone and email. We reviewed the prototype and made suggestions for modifications.The PDA contains all the schools and systems in the county and can easily be adapted for use statewide. The school list includes the address, phone, fax numbers, contact person, and enrollment for each school. The date and time of the audit are automatically populated. The percentage of records audited and the score are calculated automatically as each record is added. A report of immunization delinquent students can be produced for school officials and follow up efforts can be documented.


Results/Lessons Learned:
The program was first used on an average size middle school and several “glitches” were identified. The overall time to complete the audit was not any shorter due to unfamiliarity with the PDA. Plans are to audit a school twice, once with the PDA and again by hand, to determine the time difference in the two methods, once the auditors become more familiar with the screens. The daycare portion of the program is in the final stages of development.