Four week old infants in primary care receive precall letter from the general practice compared with the same age infants at practices with usual care to improve immunisation rates in young chlidren

Four week old infants in primary care receive precall letter from the general practice compared with the same age infants at practices with usual care to measure the subsequent immunisation coverage and timeliness rates

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12608000302358

Acronym

Project ENGAGE

Enrollment

1300

Registered

2008-06-17

Start date

2009-01-08

Completion date

2010-04-30

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

In New Zealand, the infant immunisation programme is delivered in the general practice setting. There is wide variance in practice immunisation coverage. Recent research has identified key characteristics of general practice that are associated with higher immunisation coverage. One of these is the early formation of a close relationship with the child’s family/whanau. Delay in receipt of the first vaccine dose in the primary series is one of the strongest predictors of subsequent incomplete immunisation. It is hypothesised that an intervention which enables early enrolment of newborns into general practice registers and effective practice systems will improve the completion and timeliness of the primary immunisation series. This randomised trial will implement an improved practice system consisting of early enrolment, a timely parental resource and decision-making tool, early recall and extra practice nurse support to improve immunisation coverage and timeliness. Outcome measures will be coverage and timeliness at age 8 weeks, 14 weeks and 6 months of the primary immunisation series. Potential health gains are increased immunisation coverage and timeliness with an associated reduced incidence of vaccine preventable disease in New Zealand.

Interventions

A single precall letter sent to parents of infants when they are aged 4 weeks welcoming them and inviting their parents to bring them for a check-up and to start their immunisation series when aged six weeks. The precall letter will be sent out until 500 children have been precalled from the intervention practices

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Prevention

Masking

Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

4 Weeks to 6 Months

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

General practices in the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) birth cohort of approximately 8000 newborn children recorded on the National Immunisation Register (NIR). Sample Size Approximately 1000 infants (500 in control and 500 in intervention arm) will be followed.

Exclusion criteria

Practices which do not immunise children

Outcome results