Building a State Immunization Conference and Taking It On the Road

Background: MDCH strives to offer education programs to healthcare personnel (HCP). One of our approaches is to hold annual conferences, which we have done for the past 16 yrs. We work to bring the conferences close to HCP, so that a hotel stay is not necessary. The one-day format also minimizes the time that staff is away from the clinic and allows many providers to attend. This is especially important in Michigan, which has been hit hard by the economic downturn. Participants include nurses, physicians, medical assistants, pharmacists and other HCP. Attendance is around 1,700 per yr. The popularity of these conferences shows that they have been useful in appealing to a broad audience of HCP. The conferences also provide interaction among private providers, local health dept staff and state health dept staff.

Setting: Annual regional conferences conducted by the state health department in Michigan.

Population: Nurses, physicians, medical assistants, pharmacists, local health departments, college health centers, health systems, and other healthcare personnel.

Project Description: The presentation will describe how the Michigan immunization program designs its annual conferences and is able to offer valuable content to multiple levels of providers. We will share strategies and lessons learned from our experience in planning and implementing annual conferences.

Results/Lessons Learned: Around 1,700 HCP attend the regional conferences every fall in Michigan. The conferences provide information to a diverse group (i.e., nurses, physicians, medical assistants, pharmacists, etc.); thus, information is provided to multiple levels of HCP. The one-day format and the availability of different locations make these conferences easily accessible to HCP, even in an economic downturn. A summary of conference evaluation results will be provided, along with information about the conference attendees.