For a long time, vaccines have been used to help save the lives of others. Many people credit the invention of the first vaccination to Edward Jenner in 1796. Currently, vaccines are used to help prevent over 2.5 million unnecessary deaths each year. Considering that, vaccinations are sent to pharmacies and doctor’s offices across the world. Therefore, it’s imperative that you know how to avoid mistakes while administering this important medication. Considering that, here is how to avoid five common vaccination mistakes.
- Confusing Brand and Medication Names
Medical professionals tend to work with different medications each day. Considering that, it’s understandable that certain vaccination brands and types will begin to run together. In order to avoid handing out the wrong vaccinations, you’ll need to make sure each medication is easily recognizable. You might consider highlighting certain vaccination information to catch the eyes of your employees. - Forgetting to Follow Through with Future Vaccinations
Parents often lead extremely busy lives. Therefore, many of these individuals are going to be pressed for time. That being said, these parents still know the importance of vaccinations. While parents are at the front desk, make sure to send them with reminders for their children’s next vaccinations. This helps to ensure they return to your location. - Not Keeping Vaccines at Proper Temperature
Vaccines are often stored in medical grade freezers. These vaccine freezers are designed to keep vaccinations at proper temperatures around the clock. While medical freezers make this easy to achieve, you’ll still want to ensure temperature readings are performed regularly. If any temperature irregularities occur, you’ll want to have this medical grade freezer repaired as soon as possible. - Wasting Vaccines Due to Spoilage
Another common vaccination mistake occurs when vaccines expire. Like many other types of products, vaccines have expiration dates that must be followed. If not, you’ll end up having to potentially throw many vaccines away. To avoid this problem, make sure vaccines that are about to expire are placed in the front of your lab freezers. - Avoiding Embarrassing Patient Mix Ups
Throughout a typical day, medical facilities treat a wide variety of patients. With that in mind, many parents take all of their children for vaccinations at the same time. Considering that, this can become quite confusing for a medical facility to manage. Unfortunately, not taking care to keep accurate records could result in giving incorrect vaccines to your patients.
To summarize, it’s important to avoid any mistakes while storing and administering vaccines. Many of these mistakes can be avoided by ordering medical grade freezers. It’s wise to partner with a reliable supplier of laboratory freezers and refrigerators. In turn, you can rest assured that your medical facility will be able to continue providing life saving vaccines to all patients.
