Online Program

288145
Making effective use of employee vaccination data to improve health care workers seasonal influenza vaccination rates in a large healthcare system in San Diego


Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 11:32 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.

Fatsani Dogani, PhD, MPH, RN, Critical Care Department, Sharp HealthCare, San Diego, CA
Aaron B. Mendelsohn, PhD, MPH, Scientific Affairs, Quintiles, Rockville, MD
Cassius Lockett, PhD, MS, School of Health Sciences, Walden University, Minneapolis, MN
Introduction: Influenza is a global health problem annually resulting in excess mortality and morbidity. Vaccination is a well-established preventative measure for influenza, and is especially encouraged in healthcare workers to prevent passing disease onto patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to use employee vaccination data to assess factors associated with vaccination uptake among workers at a large, healthcare institution in California during the seasons of 2006-2007 through 2011-2012.

Methods: A combined cohort and cross sectional study design was utilized for this study. Basic descriptive analyses were used to describe vaccination rates and reasons for vaccination declination by important subgroups. A logistic regression model was fit to examine factors (i.e., age, gender, job category, and work department) associated with vaccination uptake.

Results: The vaccination rates increased from 48% in 2006-2007 to 74.9% in 2011-2012. During the 2009 influenza pandemic, 72% of employees got the seasonal flu vaccine compared to 68% who got the 2009 H1N1 vaccine. The most common reason for declination across all job categories was “personal reasons” (58%), followed by “I get ill from the flu vaccine” (16%). Using data from the 2011-2012 season, we found that vaccination rates varied by age (OR=1.005) and employee type (nursing assistants compared with nurses, OR =1.408), and location (working in a procedure area compared with working in med surg, OR= .840) Conclusion: The identification of factors related to vaccination uptake is an important step in developing targeted strategies to increase compliance with vaccination recommendations.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Epidemiology
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
Describe the vaccination patterns among employees from a large healthcare system in San Diego. Identify factors that are related with vaccination uptake among healthcare workers. List reasons for vaccination declination among healthcare workers.

Keyword(s): Health Care Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: My scholarly research has focused on influenza vaccination among healthcare workers and I have been the principal investigator of this dissertation study. I was awarded my PhD in Public Health (Epidemiology) (May 2013)
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.