Abstract
Students of health professions are at high risk of hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection during their clinical training. The aim of this cross-sectional, multi-centered study was to investigate the HBV vaccination coverage in Greek medical, nursing, and paramedical students, to look into their attitudes towards the importance of vaccines and to reveal reasons associated with not being vaccinated. A self-completed, anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 2119 students of health professions in Greece, during the academic year 2013–2014. The HBV vaccination coverage of students was high (83%), being higher among medical students (88.1%, vs. 81.4% among nursing and 80.1% among paramedical students; p < 0.001). The vast majority of them (95%) have been vaccinated during childhood. In addition, 30% of the unvaccinated students declared fear over HBV safety. Our results indicate that the healthcare students achieved higher reported immunization rates compared to the currently serving healthcare workers, but also to the students of the last decade. The fact that nursing and paramedical students have lower coverage figures underlines the importance of targeted interventions for the different subgroups of healthcare students in terms of educational programs and screening for HBV markers in order to increase HBV vaccination uptake.
Highlights
Hepatitis B is a well-known global public health problem
When the categorical variable School of Health Sciences Training was transformed to a dichotomous one, the analysis indicated that students of medical school recorded an increased likelihood of reported hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccination compared to their colleagues from nursing and paramedical departments (RR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04–1.13)
The coverage figures that were found indicate that the healthcare students have achieved higher immunization rates compared to the currently serving healthcare workers and to the students of the last decade
Summary
Hepatitis B is a well-known global public health problem. There is evidence that 360 million people are chronically infected, of whom almost one million people die annually of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver disease. Recognizing that healthcare workers are in high occupational risk of HBV infection due to their potential contact with blood or body fluids, and possible needle stick injuries, European countries have adopted recommendations for their protection [1]. Since students of health professions (medical, nursing, and paramedical) are the future healthcare workers that are early exposed to the risk of HBV infection during their clinical training, it is recommended that they should be immunized against HBV (Recommended Vaccines for Health Care Workers [2]). Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 323; doi:10.3390/ijerph13030323 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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