Improving Healthcare Worker Flu Vaccination Rates

Schaffner continues, “We have senior physicians at our medical center who decline to get vaccinated, which is common among people who don’t realize or accept the fact that they can be robust and still be infected with the influenza virus. They have few, if any, symptoms, but they can spread the virus to their patients. People will say, ‘If I get sick I will stay home,’ but what they fail to understand is the day before they are sick they are already excreting virus, covering their patients with influenza virus. When we bring that to their attention, I can almost see the light bulb go on over people’s heads. That’s a critical piece of information most folks don’t have.”

Johnson³ endeavored to understand why adults do not receive recommended immunizations, and conducted surveys of 2,000 adult consumers and 200 healthcare professionals in the United States. The researchers discovered the most consistent reason for not receiving a vaccine was the belief that a healthy person does not need it (60 percent of respondents). Concern about side effects was cited by 43 percent of consumers as a reason for avoiding influenza immunization. Healthcare professionals were presented reasons why patients might not receive tetanus, influenza, and pneumococcal immunizations; according to healthcare providers, failure of patients to come for regular well-care visits and lack of an effective reminder system were among the more common reasons that adults do not receive recommended immunizations. Healthcare providers also indicated that patients’ dislike of needles, fear of adverse effects, and lack of knowledge about disease prevention were frequently responsible for missed immunizations.

Stinchfield⁴ says healthcare providers can overcome HCW immunization barriers by establishing weekend, evening or parallel track daytime “influenza only” vaccination clinics; issuing standing orders that allow nurses and other healthcare providers to vaccinate without direct doctor supervision; and increased reminder and recall efforts.