Record an Ad-hoc Immunisation

After an unscheduled vaccine has been administered, it must be recorded in Helix.

Before you begin

Permissions:
  • Configure Immunisation Settings

Procedure

To record an unscheduled immunisation:
  1. In a patient's record, go to the Health Summary iconHealth Summary panel.
  2. In the Immunisations section:
    • If no immunisations have been recorded for this patient, in the Immunisations section, click Add immunisation.
      Immunisations Icon
    • If the patient has one or more current immunisations listed, to add a new immunisation, click Add IconImmunisation.
      Example Existing Immunisations in the Immunisation Section
  3. In the Immunisation panel, enter the name of the vaccine you want to administer.
    Filtered List of Vaccines in the Immunisation Panel
    The selected vaccine is added to the Immunisation panel. Add other vaccines as required.
    Example Vaccine Added to List
  4. To record the vaccination, select it, then click Record immunisation.
  5. In the Record Immunisation panel:
    Example Record Immunisation Panel
    1. To submit the patient's immunisation record to the Australia Immunisation Register (AIR) when complete, set Submit to AIR.
      Tip: If the patient declines consent to submit to the AIR, set Declined. The immunisation details will not be sent to the AIR.
    2. The Administered by field shows the current logged in user. If you are recording the immunisation on behalf of the clinician who administered the vaccine, select them from the list.

      Alternatively, if you are recording an immunisation recorded elsewhere, by an unknown provider, select Unknown provider within Australia.

      If the immunisation was not performed in Australia, select Administered overseas and from the Country/Region list, select either the country where the vaccine was administered or Unknown.

    3. The Date administered defaults to today.
    4. For some vaccines, such as for Influenza and COVID-19, to create a recall automatically as part of the immunisation recording workflow, set Create a recall. The recall defaults to 12 months for influenza vaccines. To change the recall period, click in the Date field and select the date of the recall.
    5. From the Site of administration list, select where on the patient the vaccine was administered.
    6. From the Route of administration list, select how the vaccine was administered. For upload to the AIR, the route of administration is required for some vaccines, such as Imojev and Jespect.
    7. From the Vaccine type list, select the the funding program under which the vaccine is administered, if any. The vaccine funding type is required for some vaccines, such as Adacel, Engerix-B, Proquad.
    8. In the Batch number field, enter the batch number of the vaccine. Alternatively, select a previously used batch number from the Previously used batch numbers list.
    9. In the Sequence number field, enter the dose number for this vaccine.
      Tip: The AIR records vaccine doses at the antigen level, not by brand. Record the dose number based on the number of previous doses of the particular antigen that has been administered. For example, if the DTP vaccine Infanrix Hexa dose 1, 2 and 3 are recorded on the AIR for an individual, and DTP vaccine Tripacel is given at 18 months, Tripacel should be recorded as dose 4, because it is the fourth of a DTP containing vaccine; in this instance Tripacel should not be recorded as dose 1.
    10. If required, in the Serial number field, enter the serial number of the vaccine.
    11. If required, in the Comments field, record any further information about the immunisation.
    12. To add immunisation as a reason for visit, set Add as reason for visit.
  6. Click Save and Submit.

Results

The immunisation details are submitted to the AIR. If there are any problems with the record, the AIR returns error messages. Correct any errors and submit the immunisation again. For more information, see Transmission to AIR.

The immunisation is added to the patient's Health Summary iconHealth Summary > Immunisation IconImmunisations > Practice immunisations tab.
Example Completed Immunisation
If you successfully submitted the immunisation to the AIR, the record is displayed on the Health Summary iconHealth Summary > Immunisation IconImmunisations > Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) tab, typically within 20 minutes.
Patient's AIR Records
If you set the immunisation as the Reason for visit, the vaccine name is added to the Comments field.
Immunisation as a Reason for Visit
When you end the consult, the immunisation is added to the patient's timeline.
Example immunisation in the patient timeline