Do we practice what we preach? Health care worker screening and vaccination.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the current screening and immunization practices in New South Wales (NSW) hospitals and the experience of NSW nurses in relation to screening and immunization and to identify areas that can be targeted for improvement.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
The study was performed in NSW, Australia.


METHODS
We used a written questionnaire to survey the infection control/occupational health coordinators of all of the 85 private hospitals and 204 eligible public hospitals in NSW and 800 randomly sampled registered nurses.


RESULTS
Response rates were high (hospitals [90%], nurses [70%]). Hospitals almost universally offered hepatitis B vaccination to nurses (251/261, 96%), but more than one quarter (132/473, 28%) of nurses reported incomplete vaccination. Provision to physicians was relatively poor (142/261, 54%). The majority of nurses (> 80%) had been vaccinated with bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, but hospitals reported variable tuberculosis screening practices. Both hospitals and nurses reported low rates (< 30%) of screening and vaccination provision for varicella and measles-mumps-rubella. Two thirds of NSW hospitals (174/261, 67%) provided annual influenza vaccination.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though hepatitis B immunization programs were widespread, their effectiveness could be improved by ensuring that vaccination schedules are completed and by targeting physicians. Varicella and measles-mumps-rubella screening and immunization programs are currently lacking. Better strategies are needed to improve the implementation of health care worker protection guidelines in hospitals.
Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Control Branch, New South Wales Public Health Officer Training Program, New South Wales Health Department, North Sydney, Australia.
Julia M L
JM
Brotherton
Mark J
MJ
Bartlett
David J
DJ
Muscatello
Sue
S
Campbell-Lloyd
Kim
K
Stewart
Jeremy M
JM
McAnulty
D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient / Q000517:prevention & control; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D016272:Occupational Health; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires