title: Hepatitis B vaccination coverage levels among nurses in Greece: need for improvement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  : The aims of this study were to estimate the hepatitis B vaccination coverage levels among nurses and understand the reasons for receiving or not receiving the preventive vaccination.
  
  
  METHODS
  : This cross-sectional study was based on a self-reported questionnaire, which was administered to 788 nurses working in 17 hospitals in Greece.
  
  
  RESULTS
  : Overall, 606 out of 784 participants (77.3%) completed the survey. Of these, 63.2% nurses reported that they were fully vaccinated. The majority of immunized nurses (66%) were female (P = 0.008), and 72.6% of the fully-vaccinated nurses were working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  : This study showed that almost 40% of nurses are not protected against hepatitis B infection. There is a need for a more aggressive approach to increase the vaccination coverage among nurses.
authors.affiliation: General Hospital of Corinth, Corinth, Greece.
authors.forename: Aikaterini G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Toska
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saridi
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giolis
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kyriazis
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pappa
authors.forename: Emmanouel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Androulakis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terzis
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tobrou
authors.forename: Efstathios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Skliros
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Apostolopoulou