INSIDE WVSMA
Editor’ s Letter
Three Mnemonics to Recall the Childhood Immunization Schedule
Linda S. Nield, MD
GUEST AUTHORS:
Christina“ Chris” Rea Timothy R. Nield Amna Umer, MPH, PhD
To keep the importance of vaccines in the spotlight, my guest authors and I are sharing three mnemonics that may be able to help medical students, practicing clinicians, and perhaps even parents remember the childhood immunization schedule. The use of mnemonics to assist in recalling information in the medical field is not a new phenomenon, as evidenced by the inclusion of one to describe cardiac sounds in a publication from 1890. 1 Our three mnemonics are described in Table 1 and are based upon the most recent vaccine guidelines available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Readers must note that in the 2-, 4-, and 6-month age group, the hepatitis B vaccine is not required at 4 months, and the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines should begin being administered at age 6 months and then yearly. Measures to prevent respiratory syncytial virus in early infancy and vaccines required in the 12-to-15-month age group are not accounted for in the mnemonics.
Third year medical students at West Virginia University( WVU) School of Medicine have been taught these three mnemonics for at least the past decade, and this memory tool has been well-received. From 2022 to 2024, students completed a WVU Institutional Review Board-approved pre-survey, an immediate post-survey after a didactic lecture that introduced the mnemonics, and a long-term post-survey two to 24 months post-lecture. The surveys included a five-point Likert scale in which students had to rate their level of confidence in their knowledge of the childhood immunization schedule. The response rate was 100 % for the 113 third-year medical students who completed the pre-survey and immediate post-survey. A 29 % response rate( n = 33) was obtained for the longterm post-survey completion. Nearly 2 %, 85 %, and 55 % of students were very / extremely confident in knowing the immunization schedule for children at the pre-lecture, immediate post-lecture, and long-term post-lecture time points, respectively. Nearly all students did not know these mnemonics before the lecture. More than 90 % of students immediately post-lecture and 60 % long-term post-lecture were able to correctly name the mnemonic. At times, medical school alumnae have mentioned that they have continued to use the mnemonics even during their residency training.
Clinicians and medical educators may want to use our mnemonics or others that they have personally created to enhance student learning or even enhance parents’ recall of which vaccines to expect at their children’ s well visits. At this time in the United States, with widespread vaccine acceptance in jeopardy, incorporating tools to maximize students’ and parents’ understanding and appreciation of vaccines is at a serious high point.
REFERENCES
TABLE 1: Three Mnemonics Age Groups Mnemonics Vaccines 2, 4, 6 months DRHHIP DTaP
Rotavirus
4 to 6 years DIMV DTaP Don’ t I need More Vaccines
Hepatitis B( Hep B) Hemophilus influenza B Inactivated polio( IPV) Pneumococcal
IPV MMR Varicella
11 to 12 years THM Tdap Take HPV Man
HPV Meningococcal ACYW
1. No authors listed. Mnemonics for intra-cardiac sounds. Ind Med Gaz. 1890; 25( 3): 72.
6 • www. wvsma. org