Development of the plan - Essay Example

Need for Vaccination The pharmacy that I worked with expressed the need for a vaccination program. The pharmacist expressed that they noticed thatin their interaction with their patients, some wanted to avail of the vaccines for themselves and their families. They often expressed that they had trouble accessing such programs with the GPs. They were also worried about the various diseases which were going around and which had vaccines against them. So, many of them wanted to avail of these vaccines.

The pharmacist suggested that it would be very much encouraging to coordinate with the different practitioners and with the public health sector for them to come up with a vaccination program which the patients and the general public can access in their pharmacies. With the coordination of the public health sector, the proper vaccines can be set forth and can be recommended for purchase. The overflow from the public health offices can be directed towards the pharmacies in order to de-clog the lines for people availing of said vaccines.

In order to set this up in the pharmacy, a corner of the pharmacy can be set aside for the administration of vaccines. The administration of vaccines can first be cleared with the general practitioners in order to ensure that the patient availing of the vaccine can safely receive the vaccine. This corner would have to have a licensed pharmacist or possibly a nurse who can help administer the vaccine. Proper sterile techniques would have to be employed in this corner. A washroom would also have to be available to the medical staff in order to ensure that hand washing techniques are applied by the staff before and after each vaccine is administered.

Materials used (disposable) have to be discarded safely through proper disposal techniques. Such corner would also have a waiting area for the patients to wait their turn and for patients to rest soon after the administration of the vaccine. Monitoring of vital signs by the nurse would have to be employed before and after the administration of the vaccine in order to ensure that the patients are healthy and have no adverse reactions to the vaccine. There are other newer vaccines available in the market.

Vaccines for recently emerging infectious diseases include: H1N1 and meningococcemia. These vaccines are often limited in number and only administered with the coordination of the WHO. The pharmacy has to coordinate its sale and administration of such vaccines in order to ensure that the vaccine goes to the right persons – the high risk patients and the health staff. This would help ensure proper prioritization of limited health needs. Vaccination is an important addition to the health care sector because it is one of the most effective measures to prevent the acquisition of health risks.

Vaccines help reduce the possibility of major infections and epidemics. It is therefore important to consider its application and practice on a more widespread scale. Many diseases are now preventable through vaccines. Therefore such vaccines should also be made conveniently available to the general public. I would advise the pharmacist to set-up the vaccination area and to ensure that they are properly equipped to administer said vaccines. The right equipment, the right skills, and the right staff would be needed in order to effectively implement this policy.

Without these considerations being set-up, the vaccination area would not serve its important purpose. It might also bring forth unnecessary health risks to the public. The vaccination area should also be kept as clean and as sterile as possible in order to prevent cross contamination. The staff employed here should be knowledgeable of the important skills and processing techniques applied for each vaccine. Some vaccines also need to be stored properly and each staff member should note how these vaccines are to be properly stored.