[Rate of influenza vaccination among medical staff working at a university hospital]

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJEKTIVES: In 1988 the German Vaccination Board (STIKO) at the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) in Berlin, recommended that German health care workers should be vaccinated annually against influenza. Despite this, vaccination rates have remained low (20 %). Between January and March 2009 a study was performed at the University Clinical Centre in Essen to determine reasons for low influenza vaccination rates and to assess improvement strategies.

Methods: All employees and staff members of the University Hospital (n = 5349) were asked to fill in a questionnaire anonymously. The completed questionnaires were digitalized and the results analysed electronically.

Results: 1 670 of the 5 349 (31 %) questionnaires were found to be satisfactory for evaluation. The vaccination rate among this cohort was 29 %. Vaccination rates varied widely between different departments (4 - 71 %). The most common reason for not undergoing vaccination was "forgotten" (32 %). The second most common reason was the fear of side effects (30 %). Only 32 % of the employees stated that the quality of the information about influenza vaccination provided by their employer was "good" or "very good".

Conclusion: The vaccination rate of 29 % among this group of health care workers was higher than the average (20 %) in German hospitals and highest among medical doctors. Strikingly enough employees of theoretic departments were vaccinated to a higher percentage than those providing nursing care and thus had more frequent contact to patients. A number of comparatively basic and inexpensive measures would be enough to increase vaccination rates significantly.