Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Program

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Degree Track

Post Master's DNP Completion

Year Degree Awarded

2016

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/8538713

Month Degree Awarded

May

Keywords

HPV, Text messaging, QI, vaccine, human papillomavirus

Advisor

Emma Dundon

DNP Project Chair

Emma Dundon

DNP Project Member Name

Karen Kalmakis

DNP Project Outside Member Name

Leticia Cantu

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and is the cause of most cervical cancers in women, as well as anogenital cancers, oropharyngeal cancer, and genital warts in both men and women (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2014b). The HPV vaccine is recommended for preteen girls and boys to protect against HPV infections (CDC, 2011). In line with the goal of Healthy People 2020, the purpose of this evidence-based quality improvement (QI) project was to implement a text message reminder system, and calculate the completion rate of the 3-dose HPV vaccination series among adolescents in a pediatric clinic in a small city in Texas. The results were compared to the vaccination rates from a previously used reminder system. The project was of a single-group. pre-test–post-test design. Participants were adolescents aged 9–18 years who had begun, or were set to begin, the 3-dose HPV vaccine series during the project implementation period (October 2015–April 2016). Data from a random review of 100 charts of adolescents reminded using the prior system (prior to implementation) for the same vaccine appointments were used for comparison with the new reminder system data. Enrollees received up to 3 text message reminders for each appointment. They were surveyed to evaluate their preference of a reminder system. Using data from the prior system (n = 100), 11% of adolescents completed the three-dose HPV vaccine series compared to 46.9% from the text messaging system group (n = 49). Both groups showed a better completion rate among females. Based on surveys, 24 (80%) were in favor of text message reminders. This project shows that text message reminders offer an effective method of sending appointment reminders to increase the initiation and completion rates of the HPV vaccine series.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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