Influenza Flu Vaccine among the Elderly: Implementation Plan
Consider the population in which the solution is intended, the staff that will participate, and the key contributors that must provide approval and/or support for your project to be implemented. These stakeholders are considered your audience.
Develop a 1,500-2,000-word implementation plan that includes:
Method of obtaining necessary approval(s) and securing support from your organization's leadership and fellow staff.
Description of current problem, issue, or deficit requiring a change. Hint: If you are proposing a change in current policy, process, or procedure(s) when delivering patient care, describe first the current policy, process, or procedure as a baseline for comparison.
Detailed explanation of proposed solution (new policy, process, procedure, or education to address the problem/deficit).
Rationale for selecting proposed solution.
Evidence from your Review of Literature in Topic 2 to support your proposed solution and reason for change.
Description of implementation logistics (When and how will the change be integrated into the current organizational structure, culture, and workflow? Who will be responsible for initiating the change, educating staff, and overseeing the implementation process?)
Resources required for implementation: staff; educational materials (pamphlets, handouts, posters, and PowerPoint presentations); assessment tools (questionnaires, surveys, pre- and post-tests to assess knowledge of participants at baseline and after intervention); technology (technology or software needs); funds (cost of educating staff, printing or producing educational materials, gathering and analyzing data before, during, and following implementation), and staff to initiate, oversee, and evaluate change.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.
Influenza Flu Vaccine among the Elderly: Implementation Plan
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Influenza Flu Vaccine among the Elderly: Implementation Plan
Access Home Care is an approved care provider by the New York States Department of Health and Traumatic Brain Injury and Nursing Home Transition diversion waiver. The institution offers a wide range of care services to their members at their homes. They have qualified professionals who are trained to offer care services to their clients at their home environment. Among several other services that they offer include elderly care, case management continuity of care, socialization, protective oversight, assistance with daily living, post hospitalization and specific medical conditions.
The vaccination plan intends to vaccinate approximately 200 clients of the Access Home Care. Some of the key stakeholders who shall be instrumental in the implementation of the plan include the management of the institution. They are instrumental in giving permission for us to conduct the vaccination of their clients. Also, they shall help us with the contact details of the clients who we could like to vaccinate. With their permission, we shall explore the vaccination program holistically by including their healthcare providers. For the institution to be convinced to grant permission we need to approach them with the plan and explain our research findings on the magnitude of the influenza flu and the vulnerability of the elderly population. Once the management has granted us the permission to commence the program, we shall visit the New York Department of Health. They are crucial in granting permission for us to conduct the program and also they are influential in seeking financial support in the implementation of the program.One of the crucial documents that we will need from these professionals is their written permission to carry out the vaccination.
Once these two have granted us permission to proceed, we shall have to conduct a training program for the healthcare professionals of Access Home Care. These care providers are crucial in helping us run the program throughout the Long Island, NY. They shall be oriented on the necessity of the program based on the research findings and also how they shall inject the vaccine to the clients. The elderly shall also be crucial as they shall be benefitting directly from the vaccination program. To effectively manage, communicate and sensitize the public about the program, we intend to carry out community publicity programs educating the public on the necessity of the vaccination among the elderly and when it shall commence.
The Problem
The influenza infection is highest among the children but over 90% of the deaths due to influenza and influenza complications are among the adults of 65 years and above. The institutionalized home cares present the best conditions for pathogens and virus to spread. In these institutionalized home cares for the elderly over 70% of the population contract influenza during the flu seasons (Domínguez, et. al 2016). In the USA > 80 years is the fastest growing populations, hence need to take good care of this population in order to curb cases of influenza in society. On average, approximately 20,000-40,000 Americans die from influenza complications during most influenza seasons. During the influenza seasons more than 100,000 hospitalizations are made with an average cost of more than $750 million. Also, it’s averaged that during this season there are approximately over 75 million work days lost and when combined together the average cost of influenza amounts to over $12 billion (Smetana et. al. 2017).
At the onset of the flu, those infected can have a miserable experience. The infected complain of a series of body aches, sore throat, fatigue, chills, running nose, coughs and fever among others. The senior population is more vulnerable during the onset of the flu because their immune system is weak to fight the disease. When infected, the patient is diagnosed, and treatment commences. There are various treatment options depending on the age of the patient, the overall health and the severity of the disease. Some of the options include antibiotics, pain/fever relievers, and cough medicines (Truchi et. al. 2015).
Solution and Rationale
Curing the roots of the disease is better than its symptoms. There are a number of preventive measures that can help this group of patients avoids contracting pneumonia. Some of them include abstaining from smoking, creating buffers with people who have related symptoms such as coughing, measles among other and hand washing (Soucheray, 2015). All these are preventive measures, but at times it is difficult for the elderly population to follow them. For instance, once an elderly has started smoking, it is hard to tell them to stop considering the addictive nature of cigarettes. It is also impossible to stay away from the loved ones simply because they have the symptoms. This thus leads to vaccination being the best solution.
Influenza flu vaccine cuts down the chances of contracting pneumonia in the aging population. However, the vaccine poses to be dangerous in this population, but taking it is very crucial. The vaccine reduces the risks of serious side effects if it does not prevent the flu fully. The flu is effective in reducing hospitalization cases in the elderly who are not in the care facility. For the elderly living in the care facility, the flu vaccine can also cut down the rates of hospitalization and mortality considerably (Mo & Lau, 2015). The injected vaccine is more effective in the elderly than the spray vaccine.
The vaccines may not be effective in the elderly as in the averagely aged populations due to the difference in the effectiveness of the immune system. However, it is worth taking it, especially at the onset of the flu season. After the flu season, the vaccine becomes useless, and thus another vaccine is required for the next season. The vaccine is not completely effective, and it does not guarantee that the person will not contract pneumonia, but it provides impartial protection.
Theoretical Framework
The protection motivation theory was established by R.W. Rogers in the year 1975 with the aim of understanding fear and why people cope with their fears. The theory discusses on the cognitive appraisal processes and how people cope with stressful situations (Rogers, 1975). The theory proposes that people protect themselves based on four primary factors. They include the perceived severity of threatening event, the perceived probability of the occurrence, the efficacy of the recommended preventive behavior and the perceived self-efficacy. The theory is guided by two key principles, namely the threat appraisal and the coping appraisal. The threat appraisal focuses on how serious the disease is and the possibility of its occurrence. The coping appraisal focuses on the efficacy or how the individual perceives the recommendations...