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Attitudes of Internal Medicine Residents Regarding Influenza Vaccination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Daniel A. Nafziger  and
Loreen A. Herwaldt
Daniel A. Nafziger
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the Program of Hospital Epidemiology, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Department of Internal Medicine, the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the Program of Hospital Epidemiology, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa
Loreen A. Herwaldt*
Affiliation:
Division of General Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Department of Internal Medicine, the University of Iowa College of Medicine and the Program of Hospital Epidemiology, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa
*
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 200 Hawkins Dx, Iowa City, IA 52242-1081
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Abstract

Objective:

To survey the attitudes of internal medicine residents regarding the influenza vaccine and their reasons for accepting or refusing the vaccine during a hospitalwide immunization campaign.

Design and Participants:

Internal medicine residents responded to a written survey.

Setting:

A university-owned, 891-bed, tertiary referral hospital and a 278-bed Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa.

Results:

Immediately following the immunization campaign, 51% of residents had received the vaccine. Of those residents who were not vaccinated, 42% never had time to go to the vaccine clinic, but only 8% worried about side effects of the vaccine. Residents whose clinics were staffed by infectious disease subspecialists were significantly more likely to be vaccinated (odds ratio = 2.55; CI95 = 1.01 to 6.42) than residents working with general internists or other subspecialists.

Conclusions:

Knowledge, vaccine availability, and social pressure all increase the likelihood that residents will be vaccinated. Faculty, particularly those interested in infectious diseases, may influence residents to accept the vaccine.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 32 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1994 

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