The Bureau of Health Professions Health Resources and Services Administration maintains a Web site (www.bhpr.hrsa.gov) that provides in-depth information about the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Nurses who routinely administer childhood vaccinations encounter a multitude of questions from anxious parents, including questions about adverse reactions. Information regarding vaccines covered under the program is updated regularly.

This site explains how the program protects those who administer vaccines and details the documentation that must be kept. Nurses who are aware of adverse immunization reactions can report them to the FDA's Web site at www.fda.gov/cber/vaers/vaers.htm.

Adverse event reports
MedWatch (www.fda.gov/medwatch/index.html) is the Internet gateway for timely information on drugs and medical products regulated by the FDA.

The site allows nurses and health care professionals to voluntarily report serious adverse events and product problems that are suspected to be associated with a drug or medical device. Reports can be filed online or you can download the forms and mail or fax a report.

The site offers medical product safety information by year, drug safety labeling changes, food safety and applied nutrition warnings, and recalls and legal actions. Medical product safety alerts are updated every two weeks. Nurses may subscribe to the MedWatch e-list, which will notify them immediately of new material on the site.

Insurance connection
Insure Kids Now! (www.insurekidsnow.gov) is a national campaign designed to provide the nation's 10 million uninsured children with free or low-cost health insurance.

By educating themselves about this program, nurses have the opportunity to share this knowledge with many families who do not know that their children are eligible. Nurses may put families in contact with their state's children's health insurance program through the Web site or by calling (877) KIDS-NOW. Nurses also may order posters, brochures and other promotional material to place in clinics, hospitals and schools.

While eligibility rules vary, in most states the program is available to uninsured children 18 and younger whose families earn up to $34,100 annually (for a family of four).

Patient network
Support-Group.com (www.support-group.com) is a resource for patients who want to link with others with a similar illness or condition.

The site allows people with health, personal and relationship issues to share their experiences through message boards and online chat. Users can access more than 200 message boards and thousands of Internet links. Support-Group.com is intended as a supplement to a participant's medical treatment.

The site lists support groups by diagnosis and allows users to link to information about local support groups and organizations, as well as national and international organizations, personal pages, mailing lists and professional resources.

Medication safety
For information about a medication safety in-service, check out Improving Medication Safety (www.aha.org/medicationsafety/
medsafety.asp). The American Hospital Association has developed an initiative to improve patient safety by reducing medication errors.

The Web site supplies resources, references and links to helpful sites.

The goals of the initiative are to build awareness of medication safety, obtain a commitment to improvement and to change behavior by disseminating information about safe medication practices and methods for reducing errors, sharing stories from hospitals about innovations in patient safety, providing self-assessment tools and providing education and training programs.

~Carol Lindsay, RN