HPV Vaccination: Evaluation of Reminder Prompts for Doses 2 & 3

Overview

Randomized, 2-arm observational study. The 2 arms (randomized at the level of health care provider) will be: 1. usual practice; 2. automated reminders to recommend 2nd and 3rd doses of HPV vaccine for eligible male and female adolescents who have initiated vaccination.

The study team plans to conduct a randomized clinical trial with three arms: (1) usual care, (2) the simple reminder, and (3) the simple reminder plus the script. Randomization will be carried out at the physician level at each clinical site, to ensure that all three treatment arms are represented in each clinic. The primary outcome, HPV vaccine acceptance, will be assessed for each study participant. This study will be implemented through the Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation system (CHICA). CHICA is a computer based clinical decision support system that has been operating in the Wishard/Eskenazi system since 2004. CHICA now operates in 5 clinics in the health system and has served well over 37,000 children. CHICA supports primary pediatric care, supporting screening, counseling, anticipatory guidance, vaccinations, and chronic disease diagnosis and management. CHICA is unique in several respects. These include a unique tailored, scannable paper interface, a prioritization scheme that assures the highest priority reminders are given to physicians, and the ability to collect data directly from families in the waiting room. CHICA acts as a front end to the Regenstrief Medical Record System (RMRS), the electronic medical record for the Eskenazi health system. The RMRS and CHICA communicate using industry standard HL7 communication protocols. When a patient checks into a CHICA clinic, CHICA receives an HL7 ADT (registration) message. In response CHICA requests a download of the patient's record from the RMRS. CHICA applies a set of Arden Syntax rules to the patient's data to select 20 yes/no questions that are printed. The family answers these questions by checking boxes. The nurse or medical assistant enters height, weight, etc. on the same form and the form is scanned. The data enter CHICA's database through optical mark recognition and optical character recognition. Recently we have begun converting from this scannable paper format to electronic tablets.