Breaking through the Status Quo: Improving Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Health-Care Personnel

Abstract

Address correspondence to: Jennifer L. Gordon, PhD, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, National Vaccine Program Office, 200 Independence Ave. SW, 733G, Washington, DC 20201-0004; tel. 202-260-6619; fax 202-260-1165; e-mail . No one wants to be admitted to a health-care facility, but when it is necessary, every patient expects to receive the highest quality care possible. Too often, however, admission leads to harm, not health. At any given time, one out of every 20 patients has an infection related to their hospital stay.1 Such has been the case for far too long. The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 has brought not only a heightened commitment to better systems of health-care infection prevention, but also new tools and resources to improve quality of care and protect patients.2 Preventing the spread of seasonal influenza in health-care settings is an important element of any effort to improve patient safety. While influenza infections in patients and health-care personnel (HCP) often go undiagnosed or underreported,3 we know that influenza can spread from HCP to patients, from patients to HCP, and from HCP to HCP.4–7 In fact, evidence shows that HCP are at a greater risk of influenza infection than other healthy adults.8 For vulnerable patients, these transmissions can result in severe complications and sometimes even death. Fortunately, improving policies for HCP influenza vaccination can substantially increase coverage and help reduce the likelihood that providers become infected or serve as vectors for infection.9–11 Although HCP influenza vaccination coverage rates have risen to nearly 67% in recent seasons,12 they remain well below the 90% Healthy People 2020 goal.13,14 Notably, coverage rates differ by health-care setting. HCP influenza vaccination rates (for the 2011–2012 influenza season) reached 76.9% within hospital settings but only 52.4% within long-term care facilities,12 where patients are at the highest risk of complications and death from influenza.15,16