Influenza vaccination of health care workers: policies and practices of hospitals in a community setting.

BACKGROUND

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has long recommended that health care workers receive annual influenza vaccinations to prevent transmission of disease to vulnerable patients, but HCW vaccination rates remain low, and there is little information about hospital policies promoting employee vaccination.

METHODS

Our objective was to collect information about and compare hospital influenza vaccination policies and practices regarding health care workers in the metropolitan Atlanta community and identify relationships between policies and practices and employee coverage rates. Senior staff of infection control and of employee health programs at 12 hospitals in the metropolitan Atlanta community completed an in-person interview using a structured guide.

RESULTS

All study hospitals provided vaccine free of charge to employees in on-site clinics. Seven of the 9 hospitals clustered between 34% and 47% of their employees vaccinated, with an average of 41%. The hospitals that included flexibility and better accessibility, such as providing vaccination carts and adding more hours of vaccine availability, had somewhat higher hospital employee vaccination rates. Personal contact in the form of educational presentations appears to have more influence on employee decisions than distributing printed educational materials.

CONCLUSION

Hospitals in the Atlanta community had several similar policies and practices to improve immunization coverage of their staff. Human interactions with employees as well as ease of vaccine access may be more successful at increasing coverage rates than mass approaches such as posters or flyers.