Alli Simmons and Lacey Eden, College of Nursing
During 2012, there were 48,277 reported cases of pertussis including 20 pertussisrelated deaths. While the lack of pertussis immunization causes illness in children and adults, infants are at greatest risk for suffering severe pertussis symptoms and death from disease. As a result, in 2012 the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended pregnant women receive the Tdap Immunization between 27-36 weeks gestation. Unfortunately, this recommendation has yet to be adopted by many American obstetricians. Currently only 14.3% of pregnant women are immunized with Tdap during the third trimester. An identified barrier preventing obstetricians from complying with the recommendation is refusal by patients, indicating a potential knowledge gap.
The purpose of this project is three fold: 1) to educate pregnant women regarding the importance of specific health promotion activities during pregnancy including the Tdap vaccine, 2) to assist obstetric offices to increase Tdap immunization rates, and 3) to engage in a collaborative, community focused health promotion and disease prevention activity. Our goal is to increase Tdap vaccine rates during pregnancy and in the longterm, decrease the rates of pertussis among infants in Utah County.
With the widespread use of applications on mobile devices, the development of a pregnancy checklist application would cater to the familiarity of application use in daily living. Mentored students and faculty collaborated with a mobile applications development company to design and program the immunization application “Best for Baby.” The main part of my project was to design a poster educating pregnant women about the importance of the Tdap vaccination during pregnancy and the “Best for Baby” phone application. The application sends notifications to remind the expectant mother to get her vaccinations, and continues through the first two years of the newborn’s life. It also includes what women should expect at doctor’s appointments and what she needs to do during pregnancy in order to have the healthiest pregnancy possible.
The information on the poster was based on research done in Utah County including: 1) the number of pertussis cases, 2) the number of pregnant women, 3) Tdap immunization rates among pregnant women, and 4) the number of obstetrics offices. As I started to think of ideas for my poster, I wanted something to catch people’s eyes when they came into the doctor’s office. I designed a poster with important information about the phone application and vaccinations while still being pleasing to the viewer’s eye. The information on the poster informs pregnant women they need a Tdap vaccine between 27-36 weeks of pregnancy. Additionally, there is information about what can be found on the “Best for Baby” application and other evidence based websites pregnant women can visit to find more information.
The poster design is now complete and ready to be printed. Upon completion of printing, the posters will be delivered to all obstetric offices in Utah County. Additionally, all local health departments in Utah will be informed of the “Best for Baby” application and posters will be provided to the health departments. While the application will be initially promoted in Utah County, the potential “reach” of the program will be far greater. By partnering with professional organizations and public health agencies, the app will be promoted nationwide. Additionally, this project abstract was accepted as a poster presentation at the Western Institute of Nursing conference in April 2016. The app will be available at no cost to the consumer. Because the materials will be available, longterm, the educational program could be easily sustained for many years at no additional cost.
An intervention project that increases immunization rates among pregnant women will positively influence the health of our local community. However, with successful promotion of the mobile application, the project has the potential to influence the health of 50,000 Utah women who give birth every year and another 4,000,000 women who give birth each year in the United States.