Health care professionals' preference for a fully liquid, ready-to-use hexavalent vaccine in Spain

Inmaculada Cuesta Esteve; Pilar Fernández Fernández; Sonia López Palacios; María José Menor Rodríguez; Hosanna Parra Vino; Begoña Reyero Ortega; Maria Luz Nieto Nevot; Georgina Drago Manchón; Juan Luis López-Belmonte

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101376

Health care professionals' preference for a fully liquid, ready-to-use hexavalent vaccine in Spain

Prev Med Rep. 2021 Apr 16:22:101376. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101376. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

Inmaculada Cuesta Esteve¹, Pilar Fernández Fernández², Sonia López Palacios¹, María José Menor Rodríguez¹, Hosanna Parra Vino³, Begoña Reyero Ortega³, Maria Luz Nieto Nevot⁴, Georgina Drago Manchón⁵, Juan Luis López-Belmonte⁴

Affiliations

¹ Vaccine Expert Group of the General Council of Nurses, Calle Fuente del Rey, s/n, 28023 Madrid, Spain.
² General Council of Nurses, Calle Fuente del Rey, s/n, 28023 Madrid, Spain.
³ Group of the General Council of Nurses, Calle Fuente del Rey, s/n, 28023 Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Sanofi Pasteur, Calle de Martínez Villergas, 52, 28027 Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Sanofi Pasteur, Calle de Josep Pla, 2, 08019 Barcelona, Spain.

Abstract

Vaccination is an effective health intervention for the prevention of infectious diseases. This study aims to evaluate the response provided by nurses toward the use of ready-to-use (RTU) formulations of hexavalent vaccines and measures to prevent errors during the vaccination process. This observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study took place from March to May 2018. It included 201 interviews with nurses from health centers in Madrid (70), Murcia (59), and Andalusia (72), who had administered RTU vaccines in the last 12 months. Approximately 91.6% of nurses provided a positive feedback for the use of RTU vaccines. The most significant concerns experienced by nurses were during the preparation and administration of vaccines; 84.1% versus 18.9% of nurses felt that the risk of making mistakes was lower while using RTU vaccines compared with non-reconstituted (lyophilized) vaccines, and 74.1% versus 22.4% of nurses felt ease at preparing RTU vaccines compared with lyophilized vaccines. A total of 66.7% of nurses believed that there were risks associated with the preparation of lyophilized vaccines (administration risk [42.8%] and risk of needle injury [42.3%]). Risk percentages reduced to 4% and 9.5%, respectively, with the use of the RTU vaccines. Therefore, nurses adopted an average of seven steps to reduce the risk of errors. The average time saved during the administration of the vaccines was 1.1 min. In summary, nurses highlighted the need for administering vaccines using RTU formulations for ensuring the safety of the recipients, preventing errors, and saving time during the vaccination process.

Keywords: DTPa HBV-IPV, diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-hepatitis B recombinant (adsorbed)-inactivated poliomyelitis-adsorbed conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine; DTaP, diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (whooping cough); HB, hepatitis B; HCP, healthcare professionals; HPV, human papillomavirus; Hib, Haemophilus influenzae type b; ICC/ESOMAR, International Chamber of Commerce/European Society for Opinion and Market Research; IPV, inactivated polio vaccine; Lyophilized vaccines; MM, measles, mumps; MMR, measles, mumps, rubella; Medication errors; MenACWY, meningococcal conjugate vaccine; MenC, meningococcal C vaccine; PCV, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; Pediatric vaccination; Primary healthcare; RTU, ready-to-use; Ready-to-use vaccines; Td, tetanus, diphtheria; Vaccination; WHO, World Health Organization.