Impact of Communicative and Informative Strategies on Influenza Vaccination Adherence and Absenteeism from Work of Health Care Professionals Working at the University Hospital of Palermo, Italy: A Quasi-Experimental Field Trial on Twelve Influenza Seasons

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Every year, about 20% of health care workers (HCWs) acquire influenza, continuing to work and encouraging virus spreading. Influenza vaccination coverage rates and absenteeism from work among HCWs of the University Hospital (UH) of Palermo were analyzed before and after the implementation of several initiatives in order to increase HCWs’ awareness about influenza vaccination. Vaccines administration within hospital units, dedicated web pages on social media and on the UH of Palermo institutional web site, and mandatory compilation of a dissent form for those HCWs who refused vaccination were carried out during the last four influenza seasons. After the introduction of these strategies, influenza vaccination coverage went up from 5.2% (2014/2015 season) to 37.2% (2018/2019 season) ( p < 0.001), and mean age of vaccinated HCWs significantly decreased from 48.1 years (95% CI: 45.7–50.5) to 35.9 years (95% CI: 35.0–36.8). A reduction of working days lost due to acute sickness among HCWs of the UH of Palermo was observed. Fear of adverse reactions and not considering themselves as a high-risk group for contracting influenza were the main reasons reported by HCWs that refused vaccination. Strategies undertaken at the UH of Palermo allowed a significant increase in vaccination adherence and a significant reduction of absenteeism from work.

Related collections

Most cited references 40

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

The State of Vaccine Confidence 2016: Global Insights Through a 67-Country Survey

Heidi Larson, Alexandre de Figueiredo, Zhao Xiahong … (2016)

Background Public trust in immunization is an increasingly important global health issue. Losses in confidence in vaccines and immunization programmes can lead to vaccine reluctance and refusal, risking disease outbreaks and challenging immunization goals in high- and low-income settings. National and international immunization stakeholders have called for better monitoring of vaccine confidence to identify emerging concerns before they evolve into vaccine confidence crises. Methods We perform a large-scale, data-driven study on worldwide attitudes to immunizations. This survey – which we believe represents the largest survey on confidence in immunization to date – examines perceptions of vaccine importance, safety, effectiveness, and religious compatibility among 65,819 individuals across 67 countries. Hierarchical models are employed to probe relationships between individual- and country-level socio-economic factors and vaccine attitudes obtained through the four-question, Likert-scale survey. Findings Overall sentiment towards vaccinations is positive across all 67 countries, however there is wide variability between countries and across world regions. Vaccine-safety related sentiment is particularly negative in the European region, which has seven of the ten least confident countries, with 41% of respondents in France and 36% of respondents in Bosnia & Herzegovina reporting that they disagree that vaccines are safe (compared to a global average of 13%). The oldest age group (65+) and Roman Catholics (amongst all faiths surveyed) are associated with positive views on vaccine sentiment, while the Western Pacific region reported the highest level of religious incompatibility with vaccines. Countries with high levels of schooling and good access to health services are associated with lower rates of positive sentiment, pointing to an emerging inverse relationship between vaccine sentiments and socio-economic status. Conclusions Regular monitoring of vaccine attitudes – coupled with monitoring of local immunization rates – at the national and sub-national levels can identify populations with declining confidence and acceptance. These populations should be prioritized to further investigate the drivers of negative sentiment and to inform appropriate interventions to prevent adverse public health outcomes.

0 comments Cited 397 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Vaccinating healthcare workers against influenza to protect the vulnerable--is it a good use of healthcare resources? A systematic review of the evidence and an economic evaluation.

Rachel Jordan, Amanda Burls, Esther Albon … (2006)

Influenza causes substantial mortality in high-risk groups despite targeted vaccination programmes. This paper considers whether it is worth vaccinating healthcare workers (HCWs) against influenza to protect high-risk patients in a series of systematic reviews and an economic evaluation. Eighteen studies are included. Vaccination was highly effective in HCWs, with minimal adverse effects. Two trials assessed patient mortality after vaccinating HCWs, both of which showed a reduction. Despite recommendations, less than 25% of HCW in Europe and the UK are vaccinated. Five studies looked at programmes to increase uptake; these produced increases of 5%-45%. Published economic evaluations did not include patient benefit; therefore, an economic evaluation using UK data was undertaken. In the base case, vaccination was cost saving (pounds 12/vaccinee). In the most pessimistic scenario it cost pounds 405/life-year gained. Effective implementation should be a priority.

0 comments Cited 62 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Hospital-acquired influenza: a synthesis using the Outbreak Reports and Intervention Studies of Nosocomial Infection (ORION) statement.

N Voirin, B Barret, M-H Metzger … (2009)

Nosocomial influenza outbreaks occur in almost all types of hospital wards, and their consequences for patients and hospitals in terms of morbidity, mortality and costs are considerable. The source of infection is often unknown, since any patient, healthcare worker (HCW) or visitor is capable of transmitting it to susceptible persons within hospitals. Nosocomial influenza outbreak investigations should help to identify the source of infection, prevent additional cases, and increase our knowledge of disease control to face future outbreaks. However, such outbreaks are probably underdetected and underreported, making routes of transmission difficult to track and describe with precision. In addition, the absence of standardised information in the literature limits comparison between studies and better understanding of disease dynamics. In this study, reports of nosocomial influenza outbreaks are synthesised according to the ORION guidelines to highlight existing knowledge in relation to the detection of influenza cases, evidence of transmission between patients and HCWs and measures of disease incidence. Although a body of evidence has confirmed that influenza spreads within hospitals, we should improve clinical and virological confirmation and initiate active surveillance and quantitative studies to determine incidence rates in order to assess the risk to patients.

0 comments Cited 46 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Vaccines (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Vaccines (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): vaccines

Title: Vaccines

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2076-393X

Publication date (Electronic): 24 December 2019

Publication date Collection: March 2020

Volume: 8

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 5

Affiliations

Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE) “G. D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, Via del Vespro 133, 90127 Palermo, Italy; alessandra.casuccio@ 123456unipa.it (A.C.); fracaracci@ 123456hotmail.it (F.C.); stefania.bono01@ 123456unipa.it (S.B.); giuseppe.calamusa@ 123456unipa.it (G.C.); gianmarco.ventura@ 123456unipa.it (G.V.); carmelo.maida@ 123456unipa.it (C.M.M.); francesco.vitale@ 123456unipa.it (F.V.);

Author notes

[* ]Correspondence: claudio.costantino01@ 123456unipa.it ; Tel.: +39-348-0624128

Author information

Claudio Costantino https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3397-7331

Alessandra Casuccio https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5676-9535

Vincenzo Restivo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5406-884X

Article

Publisher ID: vaccines-08-00005

DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8010005

PMC ID: 7158659

PubMed ID: 31878271

SO-VID: 35e961d1-b637-4b57-a080-e4826bafe1e4

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Impact of Communicative and Informative Strategies on Influenza Vaccination Adherence and Absenteeism from Work of Health Care Professionals Working at the University Hospital of Palermo, Italy: A Quasi-Experimental Field Trial on Twelve Influenza Seasons

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Malaria vaccine development

Most cited references 40

The State of Vaccine Confidence 2016: Global Insights Through a 67-Country Survey

Vaccinating healthcare workers against influenza to protect the vulnerable--is it a good use of healthcare resources? A systematic review of the evidence and an economic evaluation.

Hospital-acquired influenza: a synthesis using the Outbreak Reports and Intervention Studies of Nosocomial Infection (ORION) statement.

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Author information

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 155

Cited by 13

Most referenced authors 517