Over the last couple of years, we have seen a real boost in the confidence of pharmacists in delivering vaccines, this swing has been particularly noticeable in our training sessions where more and more pharmacists have been successfully delivering vaccination services for some time. We have worked with pharmacists for many years and in 2017, we trained 12,500 pharmacists to deliver injections, working with both large national pharmacy chains as well as independent pharmacists.
However, many pharmacists feel nervous about vaccinating children. The reality is that once a pharmacist is confident in delivering injections to adults, moving towards vaccinating children can be an easy progression.
When we vaccinate children, there are some practical differences. In particular, some of the key aspects to consider are:
- Choice of location of injection (arm or thigh)
- Consent
- Therapeutic holding of the child to allow safe delivery
- Communication and consultation skills for the child and their parents
- Sharps safety with children
Our training sessions highlight and covers the practical differences in vaccinating children, and our trainers use their relevant backgrounds to share their experiences, introduce some scenario based work and lead discussions for troubleshooting common occurrences, as well as sharing little tips they have learnt in their many years of clinical work. A combination of these techniques within the sessions really facilitates the smooth progression from vaccinating adults to children as well.
With the advancement of private PGDs for travel health and a distinct appetite (both amongst pharmacists and customers) for chicken pox and Meningitis B, developing your service to include children can have some distinct benefits.
Why not take advantage of some of our final vaccine courses of the year at The Pharmacy Show where we have a dedicated child and infant vaccination course that will give you all the practical skills you need. You can book online for this course on our website.
Written by Sophie McCracken, 28th September 2018
