Reporting
Advanced Clinical Decision Support for Vaccine Adverse Event Detection and Reporting
SYNOPSIS
The odds of a VAERS report submission during the implementation period were 30.2 times greater than the odds during the comparable preimplementation period when an open-source, electronic health record–based clinical decision support system is used.
CITATION
SUMMARY
Reporting of adverse events (AEs) following vaccination can help identify rare or unexpected complications of immunizations and aid in characterizing potential vaccine safety signals. We developed an open-source, generalizable clinical decision support system called Electronic Support for Public Health–Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (ESP-VAERS) to assist clinicians with AE detection and reporting.
In the 8 months following implementation, 91 622 vaccinations were given. ESP-VAERS sent 1385 messages to responsible clinicians describing potential AEs. Clinicians opened 1304 (94.2%) messages, responded to 209 (15.1%), and confirmed 16 for transmission to VAERS. An additional 16 high-probability AEs were sent automatically. Reported events included seizure, pleural effusion, and lymphocytopenia. The odds of a VAERS report submission during the implementation period were 30.2 (95% confidence interval, 9.52–95.5) times greater than the odds during the comparable preimplementation period.