Patients' acceptance of traditional and nontraditional immunization providers.

OBJECTIVE

To examine patients' acceptance and reported use of traditional and nontraditional immunization providers and settings.

DESIGN

Survey.

SETTING

Stratified sample of private family physician clinics, family medicine residency training programs, community pharmacies that provide immunizations under standing order protocols, and nonimmunizing community pharmacies, all located in Iowa.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS

Individuals presenting for medical care or pharmacy services.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Sources of past immunizations, 'access to immunizations, importance of immunization records, and future use of different health care providers and settings for immunizations. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to examine the relationships between patient demographics and recruitment site on the question responses.

RESULTS

420 surveys were returned (67% response rate). Respondents frequently received immunizations at sites other than physician offices. Younger patients and those living in smaller towns were more likely to report receiving an immunization from a nonphysician. Patients recruited in immunizing pharmacies more often reported previous immunization by a pharmacist (P < .001), most often for influenza. Respondents often reported that it was more convenient to receive an immunization outside a physician office. Greater support was noted for receiving adult immunizations from nonphysicians and in nontraditional settings, whereas traditional settings and providers (physician offices, community health departments) were preferred for childhood immunizations.

CONCLUSION

Iowans report accessing different health care providers and settings for their routine immunizations. In general, they are more likely to support using traditional immunization providers and settings for childhood immunizations but are less exclusive about where they receive adult immunizations. Pharmacists should consider focusing initial efforts on administering adult immunizations, due to greater patient acceptance of nontraditional immunizers for adult immunizations.