Abstract
Objective: HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States affecting an estimated 75% of the United States population. Sexual activity is the most common risk factor for infection, with 64% to 82% of sexually active adolescents testing positive for HPV. The Gardasil 9 vaccine has been proven to decrease rates of HPV infections by nearly 100%. In 2018, only 48.9% of females and 47.1% of males received the vaccine. One barrier to adolescent vaccines is missed opportunities for education and vaccination. Despite the APP recommendation for annual well maintenance visits, less than half of children aged 11 to 21 years old received the recommended preventative well-checks with their pediatrician. Nearly one third of adolescents aged 11 to 21 have not had any healthcare visits in the past 12 months. Adolescents who are involved in sport activities are more likely to have yearly visits with their primary care provider. Healthy People 2030 goal is to reach 80% vaccination rates for HPV; however, in Arizona only 65% of adolescents are vaccinated.|The purpose of this quality improvement project is to implement an HPV vaccine campaign through targeting both male and female adolescents during their primary care sports physical visit. The anticipated outcome is increasing the amount of HPV vaccines administered to adolescents aged 11 to 19. The long-term goal of this project is to get the HPV vaccination rates in the clinic to the national goal of 80%.|Methods: Screening and education about the HPV vaccine was provided to all adolescents who presented for a sports physical from June 14th to July 30th. In a small private clinic, vaccine awareness campaign was initiated specifically targeting sports physicals. This campaign included educational materials as well as an HPV vaccine questionnaire.|Results: Descriptive and frequency statistics analyzed vaccine indication and series completion during sports physicals. A total of 33 out of the 51 participants (65%) seen during the pilot project had not yet started the HPV vaccine series, 61% (n=20) of those that had not started the series received their first HPV vaccine at this sport physical visit appointment. This resulted in 75% of patients (n=38) that had already completed or started the series by the end of this pilot project.|Conclusion: Results from this pilot project identified that using target vaccine education during health care encounters for adolescents outside of traditional well visits can help to improve vaccine rates for series that are started during adolescents like the HPV vaccine. This project reinforced vaccine education at all adolescent encounters it a critical part of vaccine promotion.