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Education funding to boost member immunization rates The Division of General Pediatrics of MUSC, in a cooperative agreement with the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA) and the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM), received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to increase immunization rates among their members.  The funding supports the continuation of TIDE, an online interactive educational program that provides faculty and practitioners with a flexible tool to teach immunization delivery and evaluation. TIDE, an acronym for Teaching Immunization Delivery and Evaluation, was developed by MUSC's Paul Darden, M.D., Division of General Pediatrics, and a team of consultants from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Children's Hospital of Akron, Ohio, and the University of Vermont.  MUSC's Office of Educational Technology has played a large role in the design of the online component and is responsible for the continuous updating of this popular Web site. The curriculum is organized as four self-contained modules.  Module A, Childhood Immunization, presents sample cases requiring the student to make correct decisions for pediatric patients' vaccinations.  Module B, Assessing Immunization Rates, leads the student through a chart audit to measure practice immunization rates, the first step to increasing immunization rates.  Module C, Improving Immunization Rates in Your Practice, presents ways to bring about change in office routines to improve immunization rates.  Module D, Adolescent Immunizations, presents sample cases requiring the student to make correct decisions for adolescent patients' vaccinations.  A new storage and handling module is currently under development. All modules are certified for continuing education credits for physicians (CME) and nurses (CNE) as well as other health professionals (CEU). TIDE is a self-paced program. Modules can be worked on, saved and completed at one's own speed. To date, TIDE has been used in residency training as well as by individual immunization providers. Once a participant completes a module, a post-test is completed online.  Certificates can be printed when the modules have been successfully finished and practitioners can receive free continuing educational credit. Visit TIDE Online at http://www.musc.edu/tide for an interactive demonstration or to register. For more information, e-mail Paul Darden dardenpm@musc.edu or Anne Ross, Rossas@musc.edu. Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.