Preamble

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The competencies contained in the handbook Immunization Competencies for Health Professionals were developed to support the application of the National Guidelines for Immunization Practices, published in the Canadian Immunization Guide. The aim of this handbook is to promote safe and competent practices to achieve higher vaccine coverage rates. This effort will enable and maintain the highest possible degree of community protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The competencies range from knowledge of the scientific basis of immunization to essential immunization practices and contextual issues relevant to immunization. Each competency is supported by a learning domain and a number of guiding learning objectives.

This handbook does not dictate how to teach or assess health professionals. Instead, it lays out the essential topics for effective immunization that are universal to a wide range of health professionals. These can be adapted and incorporated into all immunization training or performance evaluations. As such, the immunization competencies provide the framework stakeholders can use to tailor education programs to the needs of health professionals based on their level of experience, practice setting, and degree of involvement with immunization.

The competencies can be used by:

• Educational institutions and continuing education providers to conduct needs assessments, assess existing curricula, and incorporate the Immunization Competencies in undergraduate and continuing education training;
• Coordinators and managers of immunization programs to set practice standards and conduct employee performance evaluations;
• Front-line health professionals to identify their individual learning needs and select learning opportunities that address the Immunization Competencies; and
• Educators to assess curricula and adapt existing educational resources to support the Immunization Competencies.

Professional education is one of the initiatives undertaken by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to support the National Immunization Strategy, launched in 2003. In 2005, PHAC formed the Professional Education Working Group (PEWG) with members representing front-line health professionals, immunization program planners, professional societies, and academics from across Canada. PEWG is a sub-group of the Canadian Immunization Committee, a federal, provincial, and territorial group of public health officials providing leadership, advice, and recommendations to PHAC on implementing the strategy and on issues affecting immunization in Canada.

PEWG is responsible for making recommendations regarding professional development strategies and learning opportunities for health professionals in the field of immunization. The Immunization Competencies were developed in consultation with immunization program planners from federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions; expert advisory committees on immunization; health professional educators; licensing bodies and professional societies; health education accreditors; vaccine regulators; and vaccine manufacturers (Appendix A).

As part of its supporting role, PHAC is involved in the development of learning opportunities and resources that can help health professionals achieve and maintain the immunization competencies. PHAC encourages provincial and territorial jurisdictions, educational institutions, health professional organizations, and other stakeholders to use and incorporate the Immunization Competencies into their respective activities. The desired result is an expanded and diverse set of immunization education resources to support a similarly diverse set of health professionals.

Appendix C includes a levelling tool to assist in identifying levels of proficiency based on the specific responsibilities and performance requirements of a given set of health professionals in a given work setting.

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