Ll. Yuan et al., VACCINE STORAGE AND HANDLING - KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE IN PRIMARY-CAREPHYSICIANS OFFICES, Canadian family physician, 41, 1995, pp. 1169-1176
OBJECTIVE To assess the knowledge and practice of vaccine storage and
handling in primary care physicians' offices. DESIGN A cross-sectional
study was conducted from August to December 1992. Staff responsible f
or vaccine storage were interviewed about their knowledge and practice
s of vaccine handling and storage. Refrigerators were inspected to doc
ument refrigerator temperature and vaccine storage conditions. SETTING
General and pediatric practices in 12 regions of Ontario. PARTICIPANT
S Practices outside metropolitan Toronto were selected by choosing eve
ry 10th physician who ordered vaccine from the local health department
in 1992. Practices chosen in metropolitan Toronto were a random selec
tion of physicians affiliated with a Toronto teaching hospital. Eighte
en pediatric and 138 general practices were approached to participate;
12 pediatric and 123 general practices participated in the study. The
overall response rate was 86.5%. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Survey respons
es and temperature and storage conditions of refrigerators upon inspec
tion. RESULTS Fewer than seven (6%) practices answered all questions r
elated to vaccine storage and handling correctly, and only 11 (10%) re
frigerators had thermometers. One-third of refrigerators had temperatu
res outside the recommended range of 2 degrees C to 8 degrees C. Older
refrigerators were more likely to have inappropriate temperatures tha
n newer ones. CONCLUSIONS Knowledge and practice of vaccine storage an
d handling are often inadequate in primary care physicians' offices.