Universally Recommended Vaccinations: Provider Reminders

Provider reminder interventions inform those who administer vaccinations that individual clients are due for specific vaccinations. Techniques by which reminders are delivered vary, but can include notes prepared in advance and posted in client charts, alerts in electronic medical records, and letters sent by mail.

Summary of Task Force Recommendations & Findings

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends provider reminder interventions based on strong evidence of effectiveness in improving vaccination coverage:

• In adults, adolescents, and children
• When used alone or with additional components
• Across a range of intervention characteristics (e.g., computerized or simple reminders, checklists or flowcharts)
• In a range of settings and populations

Full Task Force Finding & Rationale Statement

 

Results of the Original & Updated Systematic Reviews

The Task Force recommendation is based on evidence from an original review (search period 1980-1997) and an updated review (search period 1997-2007). Updates of reviews are conducted to incorporate more recent evidence.

Learn more about the original review and Task Force finding in the Vaccinations to Prevent Diseases section of our publications page.

Original Review (search period 1980–1997)

Twenty-nine intervention studies qualified for the systematic review.

• Vaccination coverage: median increase of 16 percentage points (29 studies)

Updated Review (search period 1997–2007)

Nineteen additional studies were identified in the search period considered in this update. Of these, 15 studies provided common measurements of change in vaccination rates or coverage.

• Median increase in vaccination coverage:
  • Overall: 10 percentage points (15 studies)
  • Provider reminders alone: 12 percentage points (5 studies)
  • Provider reminders with additional components: 10 percentage points (10 studies)
• Reviewed studies evaluated the effectiveness of provider reminders in a range of different client and provider populations, healthcare settings, and for different vaccines.

These results were based on a systematic review of all available studies, conducted on behalf of the Task Force by a team of specialists in systematic review methods, and in research, practice and policy related to vaccinations to prevent diseases.

Publications

The findings and results of this systematic review have not been published. Read other Community Guide publications about Vaccinations to Prevent Diseases in our library, including articles about the previous review. You may also subscribe to be notified as new materials on this topic become available.

 

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Sample Citation

The content of publications of the Guide to Community Preventive Services is in the public domain. Citation as to source, however, is appreciated. Sample citation: Guide to Community Preventive Services. Universally recommended vaccinations: provider reminders (abbreviated). www.thecommunityguide.org/vaccines/universally/providerreminder.html. Last updated: MM/DD/YYYY.

Review completed: June 2008