title: An intensive 5-year-long influenza vaccination campaign is effective among doctors but not nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To double the vaccination rates of hospital employees from 20 to 40% by specific interventions over a 5-year period (2003-2007). The secondary endpoint was to compare the effects of the avian influenza in 2005 (intervention period) and the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 (follow-up period, 2008-2009) on vaccination rates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Free vaccination and its intensive propagation from 2003-2007 in a 400-bed teaching hospital with 1,687 hospital employees. Annual vaccination rates were obtained from 2003 through 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  Yearly vaccination rates for the intervention period from 2003-2007 and the observational follow-up period of 2008-2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall rate for seasonal influenza vaccination changed non-significantly during the intervention period from 20% in 2003 to 27% in 2007. At the end of the follow-up period in 2009, the vaccination rate was 26%, which was not significantly higher compared with that in 2003. Physicians interestingly increased from 34% in 2003 to 62% in 2007 and to 66% in 2009 (p < 0.001), while nurses dropped non-significantly from an already low proportion of 18% in 2003 to 15% in 2007 and to 16% in 2009 for seasonal influenza vaccination. The difference between nurses and doctors in 2007 is highly significant (p < 0.001). In the year of the avian influenza threat (2005), a significant increase was observed (30 vs. 20%, p < 0.001). This observation was seen again in 2009 (influenza A/H1N1v pandemic), during which the H1N1 vaccine uptake was 33% (p < 0.001, compared to seasonal flu vaccine in 2003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the vaccination rates did not increase over the 7-year study period. Interventions were successful for physicians but not for nurses. The vaccine uptake was significantly higher during the threat of avian influenza and the influenza A/H1N1v pandemic.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases/Department of Medicine Kantonsspital Baden, Switzerland Kantonsspital Baden AG, 5404 Baden, Switzerland. andree.friedl@ksb.ch
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friedl
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aegerter
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saner
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Beer
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000276:immunology; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012621:Seasons; D013557:Switzerland; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines