For immediate release: Aug. 6, 2009
Contact Edgar Antonio Nunez
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University of Nevada School of Medicine's Echezona Ezeanolue, M.D., awarded grant to develop hospital-based immunization system
Initiative looks to ensure timeliness in providing child vaccinations
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Vaccines are among modern medicine’s most successful and cost-effective public health tools for the prevention of disease. Immunizations are one of the most important ways to protect children from serious illnesses. Nevada has one of the lowest immunization rates in the U.S., leaving many children susceptible to diseases that can be prevented with vaccinations.
In an effort to reverse this trend, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services awarded an $87,000 grant in 2008 to Echezona Ezeanolue, M.D. MPH, assistant professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, to evaluate the impact of implementing a hospital-based immunization information system.
The pilot program focused on newborns delivered at University Medical Center who received the hepatitis B immunization, commonly administered at birth. This initial vaccination was used to create a record in the state’s immunizations registry, called WebIZ, which looks to link all elementary schools throughout Nevada.
This initiative looks to ensure timeliness in providing vaccinations to children. Parents are urged to enroll their children in the registry. Creating the initial records has been identified by Ezeanolue and his research team as a major barrier for physicians updating immunization records.
The initial goal was to increase entries by five percent; in the first year, however, the pilot program increased entries by 44 percent.
With the successful implementation of the registry program at University Medical Center in 2008, Ezeanolue and his research team were awarded a $70,000 grant to implement the program this year at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.