NH Pharmacists To Give More Vaccinations
Side Note: New Hampshire is the latest state to join the trend of allowing pharmacists to give more than just flu vaccinations. The new vaccines recently added by the state are the pneumococcal vaccine and the shingles vaccine. The pharmacists who administer them are required to undergo special immunization training and carry $1 million in New Hampshire liability insurance. But, New Hampshire physicians are concerned, and rightly so.
Many physicians are worried that patients will be asking for shots that they may not need and that a conversation with their primary physician would be prudent prior to seeking a vaccine. In addition, pharmacists will not have (and don’t have) access to the patient’s medical record. And, with the newest vaccines added, a more nuanced evaluation of the patient and his or her history would be needed to determine if the vaccine is appropriate for the patient. Finally, many physicians are worried that the medical record will be incomplete if vaccines are given by pharmacists –even if pharmacists are required to give notification as they are in New Hampshire. Quite simply, patients may not indicate that they have a primary care physician or a medical record that it needs to be recorded in. We are worried that this then would open up physicians to further med mal liability. For example, what if a physician administers a vaccine that was previously given, but not in the medical record? Read on for additional concerns.
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NH allows pharmacists to give more vaccinations
By: NORMA LOVE
From: BusinessWeek.com
Posted: September 4, 2011
New Hampshire is joining a growing national trend in allowing pharmacists to give more vaccinations than annual flu shots — but doctors oppose the changes in what appears to be a turf war over a profitable aspect of medical care.
A new state law lets trained pharmacists give vaccinations for a bacterial form of pneumonia that can be deadly and for shingles, a painful reappearance of latent chicken pox virus that affects the nerve roots and can produce a blistering rash.
