University Student Health Services Recognized for Quality Improvement Study

By Sathya Achia Abraham

The Virginia Commonwealth University Student Health Services has received an honorable mention from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) Institute for Quality Improvement for their quality improvement study titled, “Improving the Influenza Vaccination Rate in Asthma Patients.”

Betty R. Reppert, PA-C, MPH, associate director of University Student Health Services, and her team coordinated the three-year study and were able to improve the flu vaccination rate in asthmatics seen at the Student Health clinics from 24 percent in 2007 to 70 percent in 2010.

“Since asthmatics have a higher rate of complications from influenza, increasing the flu vaccination rate reduces their chances of infection and subsequent complications,” Reppert said.

According to Reppert, the team increased awareness on campus through a media campaign, which utilized the VCU home page to direct students to the Student Health web page, and informational posters on each campus. Further, e-mails were sent to more than 300 students who had been seen in Student Health with an asthma diagnosis, and information was placed in VCU TelegRAM, a daily newsletter sent to each student’s inbox.

Students who came to the immunization clinics filled out a short form asking if they had been diagnosed with asthma, and this alerted the clinic nurses to offer the flu vaccine. Special H1N1 vaccine clinics were held during the 09-10 school year for students.

VCU received an honorable mention in the Primary Care category.