Princeton Baptist Medical Center’s internal medicine resident clinic care for individuals who are eligible to receive the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine. RSV is a common respiratory virus spread through direct contact with droplets from another person’s cough or sneeze that contain the virus. It can also be spread by touching surfaces that contain the virus, and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth before washing your hands. RSV can induce a cold-like illness in all ages. However, the illness may be more serious for infants, older adults, patients with chronic medical conditions such as heart or lung disease, patients with weakened immune systems, patients who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility, and patients who are at a high risk of serious illness and complications from the RSV.

In older adults, the virus may present with mild cold-like symptoms. Some of the more serious complications that can arise from this virus include pneumonia, lung infections, worsening of asthma or COPD, as well as congestive heart failure. The peak season for this virus is in the fall/winter months.

The RSV vaccine is a newly developed vaccine that has just become available to adults 60 years of age and older. As this vaccine is new, many patients and healthcare workers have heard of the RSV vaccine but still have a lack of understanding on what RSV is, how the vaccine can help protect them against the virus, who is eligible to receive the vaccine, and the administration schedule of the vaccine. It is imperative that all members of the healthcare team be familiar with RSV and the RSV vaccine. This will allow them to feel confident in educating patients about RSV and recommending the RSV vaccine to patients when they are eligible.

The internal medicine resident clinic team consists of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and social workers. Each member of the healthcare team works together to optimize the health and wellbeing of each patient. The purpose of this presentation includes educating the healthcare team on RSV and the RSV vaccines. RSV vaccine indications/eligibility, the difference between the two RSV vaccines, patient counseling points for the RSV vaccines, and future populations that would benefit from the RSV vaccine will also be addressed.   

Each member of the team should be aware and educated on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine to be able to appropriately educate each patient on the virus and answer any questions in the patient may have about the vaccine.

Kristin Allen and Holly Mitchell, 4th year Student Pharmacists at AUHCOP, will be assisting with the development and delivery of this program.