Vaccination Records and Inspections

[Controlled Chaos]

So I am sitting here, this lovely Friday night and reorganizing all my licensing paperwork and documents. I was transferring all the children's immunization records onto the health dep pink cards to make it easier to see what they have. Well, turns out one child is WAY behind on immunizations. I am due for an inspection in the next month. I am going to talk to the parents Monday and ask for an updated record, or a letter from their doctor explaining a delayed schedule. Do licensing specialists actually check the children's records in detail or just make sure we have them on file? I can't believe I didn't catch this earlier. I am worried about being out of compliance. But our state licensing rules just say to have their records, nothing about making sure they are up to date...But then I got a letter from the Health Dep asking me to report my facilities numbers regarding to children out of compliance...I am confused and worried. Thoughts?

[Alwaysgreener]

So I am sitting here, this lovely Friday night and reorganizing all my licensing paperwork and documents. I was transferring all the children's immunization records onto the health dep pink cards to make it easier to see what they have. Well, turns out one child is WAY behind on immunizations. I am due for an inspection in the next month. I am going to talk to the parents Monday and ask for an updated record, or a letter from their doctor explaining a delayed schedule. Do licensing specialists actually check the children's records in detail or just make sure we have them on file? I can't believe I didn't catch this earlier. I am worried about being out of compliance. But our state licensing rules just say to have their records, nothing about making sure they are up to date...But then I got a letter from the Health Dep asking me to report my facilities numbers regarding to children out of compliance...I am confused and worried. Thoughts?

My thoughts......
how recent is the vaccination reports?
It was suggested to me by the state to require new records annually. So every September. The families bring me new ones no matter when they started.

Don't worry, I have gotten conflicting info from my state too. Sometimes it is the person that sent the info misunderstands the law.

My licenser looked through all of the kids records but I do not for sure that she detailed the vax reports ( now you got me wondering if dck are up to date with their shots)

[Febby]

My state requires a current record, so if the records indicate the child is behind on immunizations, inspectors assume the record is not current unless there is other paperwork to support a delayed schedule, etc.

So, my center tracks each child's immunizations and shortly before a child is due for one, they send home a note reminding parents that their child is due for one and that we will need an updated record once the child receives the immunization(s).

[Controlled Chaos]

I have only been licensed since last January so no records are older than a year. I was going to have parents bring in new records as part of me giving them a new updated handbook in January. Guess I will ask them to do it Monday!

[e.j.]

If your state requires you to have the children's records, I'm sure it means up-to-date records. Whether your licensor checks them thoroughly or not probably just depends on that licensor. I had one licensor who never checked the kids' immunizations but several others have checked them very thoroughly. Some licensors have checked all of the records while others have just picked records at random.

I would speak with the parent to see if the child is behind in being immunized or if the parent just neglected to give you updated records. It may be that the parent has the paperwork and just needs to take a copy for your records or make a call to the dr's office to have an updated form sent. If the child is actually behind and needs to get caught up on immunizations, I would give the parent a deadline so you will have the updated records prior to your inspection. If that isn't possible, you could either suspend enrollment until the child is caught up or make a note in the file to show that you're working on it with the parent. For me, it would depend on the parent/child and how strict I thought my licensor would be about records that weren't up-to-date.