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Through the Flu Vaccination Challenge, Joint Commission Resources (JCR) challenges health care organizations to reach a 75, 85 or 95 percent flu vaccination rate among staff during the 2011-2012 flu season — bronze, silver or gold, respectively. For inspiration, here are some best practices from last year’s Challenge to help increase flu vaccination coverage at your health care organization.
Offer convenient vaccination locations and times
• Try setting up multiple locations in high-traffic areas such as paycheck pick-up, pharmacy areas, or outside of
departmental and staff meetings
• Offer vaccinations throughout day, evening, night and weekend hours to accommodate all work shifts
• Create mobile “flu carts” to administer the flu vaccine “on the go”
• Bundle flu vaccination with availability of other tests such as the annual PPD test to create a “one-stop shopping” for employees
• Include all who work in the health care organization including custodians, security, dietary, volunteers, and students.
Educate and inform employees about flu risks and vaccine process
• Send out information and consent forms to employees through posters, newsletters, intranet and e-mail
• Create mandatory declination form that employees must read and sign in the presence of employee health staff if they
opt out of the flu vaccination
• Hand out reminders about vaccination availability/timing
• Highlight personal responsibility for protecting self, family, patients and hospital
Offer incentives for participation
• Coordinate friendly, department-based competition, offering a prize for the departments with highest compliance
- Track departments’ progress through goal board/thermometer
• Test your flu knowledge: Hold a myth busters trivia contest
• Offer rewards and prizes, such as:
- “Flu fighter” sticker for lapel
- Free gift (e.g., candy, lunch, ink pens) or hold drawing for prize
- Celebration for units with high compliance (e.g., pizza party)
Secure senior management and administrator involvement/support
• Encourage senior management to be among the first to be vaccinated and publish the picture of their vaccination in the organization’s newsletter
• Give the information to department heads, directors and supervisors to bolster morale and participation through word-of-mouth
• Nominate leaders in each department to encourage participation
• Create a “thermometer” poster to display your organization’s growing vaccination rate and target goal
- Perhaps break the meter out by department and share vaccination updates with group managers to show how they
compare to other groups in the organization
Be creative!
• Test your own organization’s disaster plan for mass vaccination/mass prophylaxis by using the Flu Vaccination Challenge
as a drill
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