Background: Each year, millions of women become infected with Human Papillomavirus Virus (HPV). The HPV virus can cause multiple types of cancer including cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, anal, vaginal, and oropharyngeal. HPV vaccination has the potential to prevent majority of these cancers. Despite this, a large portion of the United States population remains unvaccinated. Standardizing screening protocols and patient education materials within our OBGYN clinic can help educate patients about the HPV vaccine benefits and facilitate shared decision-making regarding vaccination.
Methods: This ongoing quality improvement project was initially created as a single-phase initiative that involved implementation of a screening questionnaire regarding HPV vaccination status and a standardized informational HPV flyer given to patients without history of vaccination. The screening questionnaire and flyer were to be given to all patients within the eligible age range of vaccination at well women exams, new patient gynecologic visits, and 4-6 week postpartum visits.
Review of the data collected identified opportunities for process improvement; thus, a second phase of the project is currently ongoing. Phase two involves physician initiation of conversation regarding HPV vaccination history at all well women exams, providing the standardized HPV informational flyers, and allowing for shared decision-making regarding HPV vaccination.
Results: The first phase of the project revealed 37.2% of eligible patients were screened for vaccination history and given an HPV informational flyer if applicable. Data collection for the second phase of the project with process improvements is ongoing.
Conclusion: This ongoing quality improvement project aims to standardize screening for HPV vaccination history and provide patient education regarding HPV vaccination for eligible patients within our OBGYN clinic. Ongoing evaluation of the workflow process will help us to implement the most feasible strategy to sustain screening and patient education regarding HPV vaccination, ideally increasing vaccination rates among our patient population to decrease HPV related cancers.