title: Influenza vaccination among healthcare workers in Italy.
abstract: Influenza vaccination is a fundamental tool for the prevention of influenza in healthcare settings and its administration to healthcare workers (HCWs) is recommended in more than 40 countries including United States of America and many countries of the European Union. Despite these recommendations, the compliance of HCWs to influenza vaccination is largely inadequate in Italy. Since 2005/06 season, a comprehensive multifaceted intervention project aimed at increasing the seasonal influenza vaccination coverage rates among HCWs was performed at the IRCCS AOU San Martino IST teaching hospital in Genoa, Italy, the regional tertiary adult acute-care reference center with a 1300 bed capacity. Despite almost a decade of efforts, the vaccination coverage rates registered at our hospital steadily remain unsatisfactory and very distant by the minimum objective of 75% defined by the Italian Ministry of Health. During the last influenza season (2013/14), vaccination coverage rates by occupation type resulted 30% among physicians, 11% among nurses and 9% among other clinical personnel.   Further efforts are necessary to prevent the transmission of influenza to patient and novel strategies need to be identified and implemented in order to increase the compliance of HCWs, particularly nurses, with the seasonal influenza vaccination.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences, Vaccines and Clinical Trials Unit; University of Genoa; Italy and I.R.C.C.S. University Hospital San Martino; IST National Institute for Cancer Research; Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alicino
authors.forename: Rocco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iudici
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barberis
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paganino
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cacciani
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zacconi
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Battistini
authors.forename: Dorotea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bellina
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Di Bella
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Talamini
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sticchi
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morando
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ansaldi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durando
mesh_terms: D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007558:Italy; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines
keywords: Influenza; healthcare workers; immunization; vaccine