Search - Literature review Example

It has been found that vaccination of healthcare workers is the most effective way to prevent the nosocomial influenza. A study was conducted in Spain to see how successful a vaccination campaign promoting communication among the healthcare workers is in increasing the influenza vaccination rate among them. A before and after the trial was conducted in which the free mobile vaccination teams with and without promotion strategies were compared for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 influenza seasons(Lupia, et al., 2010). It was found that the overall rate of vaccination among the healthcare workers was much higher for the vaccination team with promotion strategies (Lupia, et al., 2010). Though it is understood that increasing the rate of influenza vaccination among the healthcare workers significantly prevents and inhibits the disease, the rate of influenza vaccination is not at the desired level among the healthcare workers.

A study was conducted to find out the impact of declination statements on the rate of influenza vaccination among the healthcare workers (Talbot, 2009). The purpose of using a signed declination statement for those healthcare workers who refuse to get vaccination was to promote the importance of vaccination, consequences of its declination, and its impact on the health of the patients. No significant relationship was found between declination statement and rate of influenza vaccination. However, depending on the language use in the declination statement, the vaccination rate may show a moderate increase (Talbot, 2009).

Despite the recommendations by the World Health Organization regarding the influenza vaccination of the healthcare staff, the vaccination rate among this population remains low almost internationally. In order to develop a successful vaccination program, an archival study was conducted in 25 researches from eight countries around the world were selected (Hollmeyer, et al., 2012). It was found that a number of factors significantly increased the likelihood of the healthcare workers to take influenza vaccination.

These factors included: free vaccination, easy access, educational activities/reminders/incentives, active declination and immunization policies (Hollmeyer, et al., 2012). The low rate of influenza vaccination among the healthcare workers is a matter of concern because it have been proved that doing would significantly bring down the overall rate of the disease. It has been recommended since 1984, but there has been little progress on implementation of such recommendations. The review of the literature presented above clearly shows that interventions including certain factors do increase the rate of influenza vaccination among the healthcare workers.

The most important of these factors is of education regarding influenza vaccination (Hollmeyer, Heyden, Mounts, & Buchholz, 2012; Lupia, et al., 2010; Talbot, 2009). It is very important to education the staff about the impact of the vaccination on themselves and the patients. Moreover, any misconceptions that the healthcare workers may have regarding the vaccination can also be cleared through proper educational activities (Talbot, 2009). Once all the doubts are clear, the workers will be more open toward the vaccination programs.

However, it must be taken in to consideration that there is a lot of difference between distributing handouts to spread awareness and