Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T09:37:32.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Seasonal Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Employees: Results of a 4-Year Campaign

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Pamela Hirsch*
Affiliation:
Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Michael Hodgson
Affiliation:
Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
Victoria Davey
Affiliation:
Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
*
Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420 (pamela.hirsch@va.gov)

Abstract

Objective.

To document successful substantial increases in healthcare worker influenza vaccination rates and to identify reasons for success and failure.

Design.

(1) Four-year longitudinal characterization of facility vaccination rates, (2) Web-based facility-level questionnaire for influenza coordinators to identify success factors in year 3, and (3) semistructured telephone interviews of influenza coordinators at facilities with substantial increases or declines in year 4.

Setting.

National single-payer hospital (healthcare) system with 153 hospitals in 5 levels of complexity.

Patients.

Facility leadership staff.

Methods.

(1) Vaccination data collected from management sources (doses from pharmacies, denominator data from payrolls); (2) a Web-based survey aligned with a previously administered instrument (Wisconsin Health Department), piloted in-house, modified to reflect national strategies and improvements; and (3) semistructured telephone interviews with influenza coordinators at facilities that improved or worsened by more than 20% between the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 influenza seasons.

Results.

Vaccination acceptance rates improved from 45% of healthcare workers in 2005–2006 to 66.5% in 2008–2009. Facilities with lower complexity had higher vaccination rates. No individual factors were associated with improved performance.

Conclusions.

Sustained management attention can lead to improvements in healthcare worker influenza vaccination rates. Wavering of attention, though, may lead to rapid loss of effectiveness. Declination statements in this system did not contribute to vaccine acceptance.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention and control of influenza: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MMWR 2002;51:131.Google Scholar
2. Haber, P, Seivar, J, Mikaeloff, Y DeStafano, F. Vaccines and Guil-lain-Barré syndrome. Drug Saf 2009;32:309323. doi:10.2165/ 00002018-200932040-00005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu vaccine effectiveness: questions and answers for health professionals. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/vaccination/effectivenessqa.htm. Accessed December 1, 2009.Google Scholar
4. Belongia, EA, Kieke, BA, Donahue, JG, et al. Effectiveness of inactivated influenza vaccines varied substantially with antigenic match from the 2004-2005 season to the 2006-2007 season. J Infect Dis 2009;199:159167.Google Scholar
5. Heath, K, Carville, K, Grant, K, Jacoby, P, Tran, T, Barr, I. Estimation of influenza vaccine effectiveness from routine surveillance data. PLoS ONE 2009;4:e5079. doi:10.1371/journal/pone.0005079. Accessed March 5, 2010.Google Scholar
6. McLean, RL. The effect of ultraviolet radiation upon the transmission of epidemic influenza in long-term hospital patients. Am Rev Respir Dis 1961;83:3638.Google Scholar
7. Aiello, AE, Murray, GF, Perez, V, et al. Mask use, hand hygiene, and seasonal influenza-like illness among young adults: a randomized intervention trial. J Infect Dis 2010;201:491498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. Cowling, BJ, Chan, KH, Fang, VJ, et al. Facemasks and hand hygiene to prevent influenza transmission in households: a cluster randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2009;151:437446.Google Scholar
9. Cheng, VC, Tai, JW, Wong, LM, et al. Prevention of nosocomial transmission of swine-origin pandemic influenza virus A/H1N1 by infection control bundle. J Hosp Infect 2010;74:271277.Google Scholar
10. Shugarman, LR, Hales, C, Setodji, CM, Bardenheier, B, Lynn, J. The influence of staff and resident immunization rates of influenza-like illness outbreaks in nursing homes. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2006;7:562567.Google Scholar
11. Potter, J, Stott, DJ, Roberts, MA, et al. Influenza vaccination of health care workers in long-term care hospitals reduces the mortality of elderly patients. J Infect Dis 1997;175:16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention and control of seasonal influenza with vaccines: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. MMWR 2009;58:152.Google Scholar
13. Harris, KM, Maurer, J, Black, CL, et al. Interim results: influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent and seasonal influenza vaccination coverage among health-care personnel—United States, August 2009–January 2010. MMWR 2010;59:357362. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5912a1.htm.Google Scholar
14. Talbot, TR, Bradley, SF, Cosgrove, SE, Ruef, C, Siegel, J, Weber, DJ. SHEA position paper: influenza vaccination of healthcare workers and vaccine allocation for healthcare workers during vaccine shortages. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2005;26:882890.Google Scholar
15. Borlaug, G, Newman, A, Pfister, J, Davis, JP. Factors that influenced rates of influenza vaccination among employees of Wisconsin acute care hospitals and nursing homes during the 2005–2006 influenza season. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2007;28:13981400.Google Scholar
16. Bertin, M, Scarpelli, M, Proctor, AW, et al. Novel use of the intranet to document health care personnel participation in a mandatory influenza vaccination reporting program. Am J Infect Control 2007;35:3337.Google Scholar
17. Ribner, BS, Hall, C, Steinberg, JP, et al. Use of a mandatory declination form in a program for influenza vaccination of healthcare workers. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2008;29:302308.Google Scholar
18. US Department of Veterans Affairs. Infection: don't pass it on. Washington, DC: US Department of Veteran Affairs, 2009. http://www.publichealth.va.gov/infectiondontpassiton/. Accessed December 1, 2009.Google Scholar
19. US Department of Veterans Affairs. VA influenza toolkit manual 2008–2009. Washington, DC: US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008. http://wwwl.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID = 1978. Accessed December 1, 2009.Google Scholar