Patient experience with, and use of, an electronic monitoring system to assess vaccination responses

Abstract Objective  To evaluate the user experience and acceptability of an electronic patient monitoring system. Setting and participants  822 Military and civilian personnel at a health clinic at a major US military headquarters used an Internet and telephone‐based electronic monitoring system to report vaccination‐site responses and symptoms after receiving the smallpox vaccination. Focus groups of vaccinees were conducted to help develop a survey about the experience that was distributed to 379 vaccinees (96% completion rate). Results  Users of the electronic monitoring system reported that it was fast and easy to use and reported they would use a system like this again and recommend an electronic monitoring system to a friend or relative. Most users (84%) were comfortable with a physician tracking their vaccine reaction using their electronic reports, but only half (51%) were comfortable with eliminating the post‐vaccination follow‐up visit with their health‐care provider based on their electronic reports. Conclusions  This electronic monitoring system was well received by vaccinees and allowed health‐care providers to track the status of vaccinees. However, vaccinees were not comfortable replacing a physician visit with electronic monitoring, at least for the smallpox vaccination. A monitoring system like this may be useful in public health settings, such as mass vaccination or prophylaxis during a bioterrorism event, a pandemic influenza outbreak, or another public health emergency.