Worksite policies related to influenza vaccination: a cross-sectional survey of US registered nurses.

ABSTRACT

To increase the rate of influenza vaccination among healthcare personnel, national recommendations call for worksites to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to encourage vaccination. The objective of this study was to explore existing worksite influenza vaccination policies and attitudes toward the use of declination forms based on a cross-sectional mail survey of 2,000 registered nurses in four US states. The majority (59%) of respondents reported receiving influenza vaccine during the 2005-06 influenza season. Just over half (55%) of respondents reported that their worksite strongly recommended influenza vaccination for employees. Most worksites made vaccine available to employees via one or more venues (95%) and used one or more strategies to inform employees about influenza vaccination (91%). Worksite policies supportive of HCP influenza vaccination were reported more frequently by vaccinated nurses and those in hospital-based settings. The majority of respondents supported the use of declination forms for influenza vaccination. Although many healthcare worksites have policies in place to support influenza vaccination among their employees, continued efforts to expand worksite policies and practices are important for increasing vaccination rates and may need to be targeted differently for hospital- and non-hospital-based settings.