How to reduce physical contact when giving childhood injections

Practices are being urged to keep providing childhood immunisations to prevent infectious diseases, but how can this be done safely? One practice shares its new process.

The Project Surgery in east London wanted to ensure face-to-face contacts are kept at a minimum during the Covid-19 pandemic for protection of both practice nurse and patients.

GPs have largely moved to digital consultations but nurses still have to undertake the face-to-face procedures.

The idea is to reduce face-to-face contact time from 10 minutes to two minutes for childhood injections.

Quality improvement tools, such as process mapping and PDSA were used, following on from learning gained through NHS England’s ‘time for care’ programme.

The process 

1. Patients drive in to the practice with car and park outside front gate (if no car they bring the baby in pushchair and wait in the front patio area of the practice).

2. The parents ring the practice on arrival so no receptionists need to have face-to-face contact with them

3. The nurse carries out a telephone consultation with the parents explaining the safety of injections as in a normal consultation and explains she will come to the passenger seat of the car or come to the pushchair to administer the vaccines and that the baby’s thighs should be exposed.

4. The nurse arrives at the car / pushchair with an admin assistant to help her with sharps disposal and any potential anaphylaxis complications

5. The injection is given in under two minutes

6. The records are written up inside by the health care assistant and electronically sent to parents

7. The parent is given a mask to wear and nurse and assistant are in PPE 

Source: Information supplied by the Project Surgery in east London [provided on 28 April]