The Joint Commission is releasing a monograph “Providing a Safer Environment for Health Care Personnel and Patients Through Influenza Vaccination: Strategies from Research and Practice,” in an effort to increase the percentage of health care workers who receive influenza vaccinations.
In a release to the press, Jerod M. Loeb, PhD, executive vice president, Division of Quality Measurement and Research, The Joint Commission, said “Health care worker flu vaccination rates have been less than optimal for years and the vaccination rate is still below 50%. Organizations are eager to find ways to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. The monograph includes strategies that organizations can employ and provides a foundation to improve vaccination rates.”
According to the Joint Commission, the monograph was supported by an educational grant from sanofi pasteur, and is the result of the project Strategies for Implementing Successful Influenza Immunization Programs for Health Care Personnel, a 10-month collaboration between The Joint Commission, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Inc (APIC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).
The monograph includes information about the following:
– seasonal influenza and the influenza vaccine;
– barriers to successful programs and strategies for overcoming them; and,
– examples of successful initiatives organizations have used to improve their influenza vaccination rates.
The monograph incorporates evidence-based guidelines and published literature. Electronic copies of the monograph are available for free download on The Joint Commission’s Web site.
