title: Medical students' awareness of and compliance with the hepatitis B vaccine in a tertiary care academic hospital: An epidemiological study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The hepatitis B virus (HBV) poses a health risk to healthcare workers who are in close proximity to infected individuals. Medical students are a particularly high-risk group due to the lack of an obligatory vaccination program and a post-vaccination screening program to determine immunity status, which results in a lack of awareness of and compliance with the HBV vaccine.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional survey was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), a tertiary care academic hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 2013 to March 2014. Medical students in their second to fifth years (n=444; 213 men and 231 women) completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding awareness of HBV and compliance with the HBV vaccination program in KKUH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Medium to low knowledge levels were present in 53.5% of the participants, and 44.3% reported that they were not compliant with the vaccination program provided by KKUH. While 93.9% received the HBV vaccine upon entry to medical school, only 59.5% received all 3 doses, citing forgetfulness and a busy schedule as common reasons for the low compliance. There was no association between the knowledge and awareness of the participants and their compliance (p=0.988).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medical students had a low level of compliance with the HBV vaccination program, regardless of their knowledge and awareness of the disease and vaccination. We recommend that programs and campaigns be developed to increase the overall awareness of this disease. We also suggest that a mandatory HBV vaccination program should be implemented to improve the compliance rate among medical students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Firas A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Ghomraoui
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Faisal A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Alfaqeeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulrahman S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Algadheeb
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdullah S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Al-Alsheikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Liver Disease Research Center, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Waleed K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Al-Hamoudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Liver Disease Research Center, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: kalswat@KSU.EDU.SA.
authors.forename: Khalid A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Alswat
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines
keywords: Communicable diseases; Hepatitis; Public health policy; Vaccination