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The more tools that we have to make sure that we're giving the best care is always a win
and MIIC allows me to have a really good handle on my patients' needs.
You know, I think when you go home at the end of the day you want to know that you made a difference
for someone and it helps us serve patients better and that's what we want to do.
MIIC is a state of Minnesota tool that gives us the opportunity to record and access a
patient's immunization history. And it also gives you information about what
vaccines are due so you can not only find information but be proactive and make sure
that they get immunized appropriately. Using MIIC is super easy you just have to
know the patient's name and their birthdate, once you have it you're able to access right
away exactly what you need as far as their immunization history. To look at when they
last got their vaccine, where they got it, it's really simple and really user-friendly
and it doesn't add much more to our workflow than going into a patient profile would.
When a patient goes through any transition of care we always complete what's called a
medication reconcilation and that involves comparing the medications that they're on at
home to the medications they are taking in the health care setting and often I think
overlooked part of the medication history is the vaccine history. So if they're behind
on their tetanus vaccine or other vaccines that they should be receiving they can tell
by looking at MIIC. The forecasting tool in the bottom of MIIC
is a great resource because it shows us when a patient needs their vaccines and what their
going to be needing. For example, the patient had come in, requested her zostavax vaccine,
we pulled her up in MIIC, she had already had it about five years ago but didn't realize
it. Using MIIC, we often will identify patients when we know that they are high risk for certain
diseases. It's really easy to assess that if you have diabetes, if you're over a certain
age, that you're, you're really a good candidate for certain vaccines.
At the hospital where I work, the majority of the patients who come here are going to
be good candidates for a pneumococcal vaccine so we've taken it upon ourselves to screen
all of our patients and if they need the vaccine then they receive it. We also have quality measures
that we're being measured against and some of those pertain to immunizations.
When we're assessing a patient for a medication therapy management, or MTM visit, there's
a prescreening process we go through. And one of those prescreening processes is also
to look at the immunizations they may need. When we do an MTM we are able to bill for
the fact that we've assessed for that vaccine need and then we can also bill for the actual
vaccine administration. We have a requirement to provide good safe
care for our patients and part of that is making sure that they are appropriately immunized.
So if we were all to put information into MIIC and then we could all access it it's
a great tool for us that has consistent information about vaccines.
It makes a lot of sense that we have access to MIIC. It puts us all on the same page for
a patient's immunization history and their immunization needs.
Pharmacists are definitely recognized as part of the care team and the recommendations that
they make regarding medications, including immunizations, are taken seriously and followed.
I think as pharmacists we have a unique position to see a patient on a month-to-month basis,
to build a trust relationship that allows us to really be a resource for our patients.
And, even if we're not immunizing, using MIIC and having access to MIIC helps us to be better
prepared to help them make health care decisions and to really serve a bigger public health purpose
within the health care team.