Organizational readiness for implementing a vaccine flow protocol in the Primary Health Care of a Brazilian municipality

<title>Abstract</title> <p> Background The fall in vaccination coverage observed in Brazil poses an urgent need for strategies to reorganize health services with a focus on increasing this coverage, since vaccination represents one of the most effective interventions in infectious diseases prevention. The flow protocol for increasing the vaccination coverage of pregnant women and children under two years of age was developed as a strategy to be implemented in all the vaccination rooms of a municipality in the north of Espírito Santo, Brazil. This study assessed Primary Health Care professionals’ readiness for change in relation to the implementation of the protocol for the vaccination service. Methods Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, we assessed the length of time working and the readiness to change among Primary Health Care professionals, following training offered by the municipal immunization coordinator. The research was conducted with 168 professionals, including physicians, receptionists, community health workers, vaccinators, nurses and health unit coordinators. Participants answered the questionnaire <italic>Organizational Readiness for Implementing Change</italic> (ORIC-Br), validated in the Brazilian context, which assesses two domains: collective effectiveness and commitment to change. Descriptive statistics and the software Stata v17.0 were used to analyze the data from the ORIC-Br. The results were presented in tables and graphs to illustrate the levels of readiness among the participants. Results The results showed a high level of organizational readiness among health professionals, with average scores of 48.97 on a scale ranging from 11 to 55. The internal consistency analysis, using Cronbach’s alpha, confirmed the tool’s high reliability (0.94). Conclusion Although the health professionals display determination to and confidence in executing the changes brought about by the protocol, their implementation and sustainability transcend individual capacity. Commitment to organizational change requires, in addition to individual effort, structural guarantees and effective support from managers to overcome barriers and setbacks inherent to the process. This is the first study to demonstrate health professionals’ readiness for change in the context of the implementation of a protocol aimed at increasing vaccination coverage in a remote region of Espírito Santo, Brazil, and represents a relevant reference for health implementation studies at national and international level. </p>