Home › Forums › Infexion Connexion › ? Compulsory Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers › Re: ? Compulsory Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers › Re: ? Compulsory Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers › Re: ? Compulsory Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers › Re: ? Compulsory Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers
Author:
Glenys Harrington
Position:
Consultant
Organisation:
Infection Control Consultancy (ICC)
State:
Hi Kathy,
The attached recent publication may be if interest/use (you may have seen it
already)
. Marci Drees et al. Carrots and Sticks: Achieving High Healthcare
Personnel Influenza Vaccination Rates without a Mandate. Infect Control Hosp
Epidemiol 2015;36(6):717-724
The authors achieved a 92% vaccination rate compared with vaccination rates
of 57%-72% in the 3 years previous without mandating.
Their strategies included the following:
. Each of their forms (consent, declination and reason for
declination) included a bar code, which was scanned by a newly created
web-based application along with the HCP’s identification badge. This
automatically updated the vaccination database with vaccinated, exempt or
declined status.
. Every manager and vice president in the system began receiving
weekly lists of their employees, notated as vaccinated, not vaccinated, or
no response.
. Managers were required to follow up with employees who had not
responded. In addition, managers were aware of which employees had not been
vaccinated and, thus, were required to wear masks once the flu season began.
. Rather than relying on roving vaccinators, meetings, and
distribution of vaccine for self-vaccination, the task force decided to
adopt a “blitz” campaign during the first 2 weeks of the season. Beginning
in early October, vaccination stations were set up across all shifts at
entrances to hospitals and other outpatient/ancillary facilities.
. At each entrance, volunteer “clerks” (who ranged from
administrative assistants to leadership personnel) scanned the HCP’s
identification badge and the appropriate form (taking ~30 seconds), and then
directed him/her to the next available vaccinator (volunteer nurses and
pharmacists).
. After vaccination (or attesting to vaccination elsewhere), staff
were given hanging badges, stating “I’m vaccinated because I care.”
. Wearing the hanging badges was not mandatory, but anyone not
wearing an “I’m vaccinated” tag was required to mask while in patient care
areas, regardless of their actual vaccination status.
. ~70% of all employees were vaccinated during the initial “blitz.”
. The policy used the existing disciplinary process for employees
who either did not complete 1 of the 3 forms by November 30 (i.e., the
mandatory declination), or who were not vaccinated and repeatedly failed to
mask. While the discipline alone did not result in termination, it was
considered in performance evaluations and could result in an employee being
considered “below standard.” Employees in this status were ineligible for
annual raises or any financial incentive.
Many of these strategies could be readily implement in Australian healthcare
facility influenza vaccination programs.
Regards
Glenys
Glenys Harrington
Consultant
Infection Control Consultancy (ICC)
PO Box 5202
Middle Park
Victoria, 3206
Australia
M: +61 404 816 434
ABN 47533508426
Of Katherine Taylor
for healthcare workers
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks for your response. Sending a text message is a great idea for
contacting the casual and part timers, maybe not only asking for those who
have had their jab elsewhere, but to remind them of when clinics are being
held. We will definitely add that to our influenza vaccine planning for
next year.
Regards
Kathy
Kathy Taylor- Infection Control Manager
The Wesley Hospital | 451 Coronation Drive, Auchenflower QLD 4066
t: 07 3232 7558 |m: 0427 607 812 | f: 07 3232 6043 |e:
katherine.taylor@uchealth.com.au
Of Kirsten Amos
Hi Kathy
Where I am is small and we have a significant part time/casual workforce. We
found that MANY of our staff had been vaccinated elsewhere and weren’t
letting us know. We sent out a text message to all our part time and casual
nurses asking them to contact me if they had received their flu vax
elsewhere. We increased our compliance by over 10%!
Kirsten Amos
Nurse Consultant
Infection Prevention and Control
Gippsland Southern Health Services
Of Katherine Taylor
Thanks Cathy,
I agree that getting the managers to assist is the way to get buy-in, but I
also like your idea of a prize draw – might hit up my exec for something
good next year.
Regards
Kathy
Kathy Taylor- Infection Control Manager
The Wesley Hospital | 451 Coronation Drive, Auchenflower QLD 4066
t: 07 3232 7558 |m: 0427 607 812 | f: 07 3232 6043 |e:
katherine.taylor@uchealth.com.au
Of Cathy Mowat
Katherine, we have had a lot of support from the executive team to achieve
our current rate of 79%. We have broken down all staff into ward
/departments lists and the managers were receiving weekly updates of
progress within their department. As the number of vaccinated staff
increased we then narrowed it down to those who have not been vaccinated.
All unit managers were expected to assist us in ensuring that every staff
member has either been vaccinated or has signed the declaration form
formally declining the vaccine. We have around 950 staff on 2 sites for
purposes of the influenza campaign. We have a major prize draw at the end of
the season for staff who have been vaccinated. This has been in place for
several years and alone didn’t assist that much in reaching our target. Last
year we failed to reach 75% so the strategies this year really worked. It
has, of course, come with the expense of great time and effort on the behalf
of the infection control staff who are both nurse immunisers.
Cathy Mowat
Infection Control
Central Gippsland Health Service
Sale Victoria
Of Katherine Taylor
Dear AICALIST members,
From July last year any new starters at our hospital sign that they agree to
have the vaccines that are recommended in the Australian Immunisation
Handbook for their designation, and now our executive are toying with the
idea of making influenza vaccination compulsory for all of our staff next
year.
With a lot of effort this year -lots of flu jab clinics, lollypops & bright
stickers for ID swing tags on vaccination, “grab a snag & get a jab” BBQ
lunch, free pizza lunch for wards/areas with compliance above 80% – we have
a compliance rate of 72% of staff either vaccinated or who have signed an
opt-out form declaring that they have been offered the influenza vaccine,
but decline for whatever reason. I think this compliance rate is pretty
good – certainly better than the compliance in previous years.
I would like to know what everyone else is doing out there. What has worked
and what has not?
Is influenza vaccination compulsory at your facility? Is it something your
exec team is considering?
What do you consider to be an acceptable vaccination rate in your healthcare
facility?
Is there any penalty for staff who are not vaccinated, e.g. unimmunised
staff wearing mask at work during winter?
Regards
Kathy
Kathy Taylor- Infection Control Manager
The Wesley Hospital | 451 Coronation Drive, Auchenflower QLD 4066
t: 07 3232 7558 |m: 0427 607 812 | f: 07 3232 6043 |e:
katherine.taylor@uchealth.com.au
_________________________________________________________________
Uniting Care Health Email Disclaimer: http://www.uchealth.com.au/disclaimer
Uniting Care Health Email Disclaimer: http://www.uchealth.com.au/disclaimer
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
– registration and login
required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without
the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
– registration and login
required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without
the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
Uniting Care Health Email Disclaimer: http://www.uchealth.com.au/disclaimer
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
– registration and login required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without
the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
– registration and login required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without
the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
Uniting Care Health Email Disclaimer: http://www.uchealth.com.au/disclaimer
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives –
registration and login required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without
the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives – registration and login required.
Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new message send an email to aicalist@aicalist.org.au
To send a message to the list administrator send an email to aicalist-request@aicalist.org.au.
You can unsubscribe from this list be sending ‘signoff aicalist’ (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au