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Background: With the introduction of the H1N1 vaccine, and heightened federal awareness of the vaccine campaign, close tracking of vaccine in the state was necessary. The Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH) already has an electronic immunization registry, the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR), but could not mandate its use for H1N1. Because VACMAN, the CDC system, is up for replacement, it was decided that it should not be relied upon as the single system for tracking WI vaccine either. Therefore, a Vaccine Database was created to provide a way for DPH to track: vaccine orders, shipments, transfers, providers with surplus vaccine, provider registration information, and CDC allocations of vaccine for
Setting: Wisconsin state and regional DPH offices
Population: State of
Project Description: The initial purpose of this project was to quickly create a database that could track vaccine transfers and surpluses. In order to make tracking most effective, the project’s scope expanded, incorporating order and shipment information. Additional functionality was built in as staff started using the system. Reports and queries were built in to allow for geocoding and reporting. The reports and queries were essential time savers for DPH risk communicators. To ensure accuracy of data, a continuous QA process was established.
Results/Lessons Learned: A successful, cost-effective, electronic solution can be implemented on short notice. Although successful, starting an IT project from scratch in an emergency should be avoided when possible. Because information on H1N1 vaccine was coming from multiple sources, the database caused users to enter data into various systems multiple times. Future recommendations include streamlining data movement between systems such as the electronic order form, database, and VACMAN; having additional staff assigned to the project and accessing the database via a web interface not a network drive.