A CDC toolkit to address HPV

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected a number of tools that immunization advocates, clinicians and parents can use to talk about the vaccine against human papilloma virus. Here are all the particulars...

We have an amazing tool to protect young people from most of the cancers caused by HPV, including cervical cancer. Let’s use the rest of January to raise awareness of all HPV cancers and HPV vaccination. 

CDC and several partner organizations have compiled a multitude of resources for the new
HPV Vaccination Partner Toolkit that can help you share the importance of HPV vaccination, help clinicians make effective recommendations, improve coverage rates, and provide you with places you can go to get more information and materials. Below are ways you can raise awareness this month and in the future.




Share Why HPV Vaccine is Important

1.  Have Survivors Come to Speak      Having a survivor come speak to clinicians in the area can      make a big impact. The American Cancer Society has      developed a speaker database that will allow you to find      HPV cancer survivors in your area.

 

2. Share Survivor Videos      HPV cancer survivors have a unique and powerful story to tell.      Listen to these men and women talk about their experiences      important. These videos can be used to help parents and      clinicians understand  the risks of HPV infection and why HPV      vaccination is so important.

 

3. Set up a viewing of Someone You Love      “Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic” is a feature length      in-depth documentary narrated by Vanessa Williams on the      human papilloma virus (HPV) and the stories of      struggle, tragedy and triumph surrounding this complicated      and often misunderstood infection.

 

4. Discover the Link Between HPV and Cancer      Each year, about 38,793 new cases of cancer are found in      parts of the body where human papillomavirus (HPV) is often       found. HPV causes about 30,700 of these cancers. Get the      statistics around HPV and Cancer from CDC to better      understand the burden of HPV infection.

Help Clinicians Make Effective Recommendations

1. Share the Updated Clinician Factsheet      Our updated clinician tipsheet highlights the use of the      "bundled recommendation" and gives simple and effective      answers to the questions parents have about HPV vaccine.

 

2. Learn How to Give an Effective Recommendation      CDC has created multiple CME courses on the best ways to      give an HPV vaccine recommendation. Each course can be      used to get new insight on how to have the HPV vaccine      conversation with parents of 11-12 year olds and how to      answer their questions.

 

3. Watch Providers Giving Effective Recommendations       Minnesota Department of Health has created a 12-minute       video for health care providers on HPV vaccine         communication. The video begins with humorous vignettes       and then presents four model clinical encounters in which       providers demonstrate low-stress ways of recommending       HPV vaccine and answering questions from patients and       parents.

Help Raise HPV Vaccination Rates

1.  Know the Many Ways You Can Help      Get tips on what different types of groups can do to help      raise rates. This PDF includes suggestions like: sending      letters to parents of 9-12 year olds, hosting lunch and learns,         working with local cancer groups, reaching out to local      health systems, and more.

 

2.  Understand your Rates      Access survey data collected by CDC and translate the data      into action. This data can help you identify where additional      efforts are needed to increase vaccination coverage.

 

3.  Get Involved in Quality Improvement Projects      Quality improvement actions in your practice can lead to      increases in HPV vaccination coverage. Find out more about      the different types of quality improvement projects that are      available, including AFIX visits, reminder/recall, immunization      information systems, and more.

 

4.  Participate in A Maintenance of Certification Project      Be a part of AAP's maintenance of certification program.      AAP's MOC site is designed to assist eligible AAP Member      pediatricians in developing, submitting, and managing a      MOC related activity.

Get More Resources

1. CDC's HPV Partner Toolkit      This toolkit provides resources for state and local      organizations interested in enhancing HPV vaccination      efforts at the clinician, patient, and partnership level.      It includes all of CDC's resources for helping to promote      HPV vaccine and give links to partner information.

 

2. The American Cancer Soceity      The American Cancer Society has several HPV vaccination      rate improvement initiatives. The HPV VACs project      partners with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs),      state health departments, and other state-based entities to      increase HPV vaccination rates through improved clinician      education and systems change. The National HPV      Vaccination Roundtable, coordinated by the American      Cancer Society is a national coalition of over 70 national      organizations working together to prevent HPV cancer and      precancer by increasing and sustaining HPV vaccination      rates in the United States..

 

3. The AAP's HPV Champion Toolkit.      This toolkit from the American Academy of Pediatrics has      some of the best resources available to help you educate      other healthcare professionals, discuss HPV vaccination      with parents, and make necessary changes in your practice      to improve HPV vaccination rates.

 

4. Local Partners      Many organizations have local initiatives to increase HPV      vaccination rates. Use this page to find your state contacts,      as well as information on several partner projects dedicated      to preventing HPV cancers and diseases.

How we talk to parents about HPV vaccine is important

The way health professionals talk about the human papilloma virus vaccine can improve the chances that parents will agree to immunize their children.

That was the experience of the Florida Department of Health in Broward County during its annual back-to-school immunization campaign in August.

DOH-Broward nurses nearly doubled the number of HPV shots they gave during the 2016 campaign at Lauderhill Mall, by simply telling parents that HPV vaccine protects kids against cancer.

“When HPV becomes a part of routine vaccination and is presented as cancer prevention, parents are more apt to agree to the vaccination for their child,” DOH-Broward staff wrote in a summary on the success of the practice.

HPV vaccine is given to boys and girls starting at age 11. During the mall campaign, DOH-Broward vaccinated 1,640 children for HPV, vs. 903 in 2015, the first year it was offered. That’s an 82 percent jump. Of those, 1,256 were initial doses, 228 were second doses and 156 were third doses.

 

HPV vaccine is not required for school admission, and some parents hesitate to say yes because HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. Federal data from 2013 rank Florida among the lowest in HPV vaccinations, with 39.4 percent of females receiving one dose.

But reframing the conversation helped.

“The success of this practice was due to training immunization nurses on how to talk to parents about HPV and willingness of nurses to implement these new methods,” says

Terri Sudden, Director of Public Health Preparedness and Response. She will give a presentation on the approach at a statewide immunization conference.

The same approach helped increase HPV vaccine rates at DOH-Broward clinics, which gave 2,577 doses last year, almost triple the 869 given in 2015.

Offering HPV vaccine at DOH-Broward settings is part of a three-pronged project DOH-Broward began in 2015.

The other parts involve training medical professionals to pro-mote the vaccine routinely, and to distribute educational palm cards in the community (over 5,000 so far). The project continues this year.