Come On Now, Get Those Flu Vaccinations

• 7/2/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• Category: Benchmark Blog
• 25171 Views
• 0 Comments
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When I worked for a health care organization in a former life, all employees had to be vaccinated for the flu. No questions asked. I didn’t like it, but that was the policy. Apparently, that isn’t the case everywhere.

Last week, The Joint Commission released “Providing a Safer Environment for Health Care Personnel and Patients through Influenza Vaccination:  Strategies from Research and Practice,” to help health care organizations improve seasonal influenza vaccination rates in their staff. 

The monograph includes information about seasonal influenza and the influenza vaccine, barriers to successful programs and strategies for overcoming them, and examples of successful initiatives organizations have used to improve their influenza vaccination rates. It also incorporates evidence-based guidelines and published literature to highlight practical strategies and tools submitted by health care organizations. 

Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president, Division of Quality Measurement and Research, The Joint Commission says, “Health care worker flu vaccination rates have been less than optimal for years and the vaccination rate is still below 50%. Organizations are eager to find ways to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. The monograph includes strategies that organizations can employ and provides a foundation to improve vaccination rates.”

Have any of you read the monograph? I’d be interested to know your thoughts. If you’d like to share any processes you have for tackling this issue at your organizations, feel free to do that as well. We’d all be interested in learning from your successes.