title: Knowledge, attitude and awareness among healthcare professionals about influenza vaccination in Peshawar, Pakistan.
abstract: A cross-sectional study was carried out among HCPs in Northwest General Hospital & Research Centre, Hayatabad Peshawar, Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge, awareness and attitude of HCPs towards influenza vaccination. A total of N=170 questionnaires were distributed among the staff. There was a 97% response rate to this survey (n=165). The median age of the respondents was 30 years and most of them, 98 (59.0%), were from age group of 24-30 years. The majority of the HCPs that participated in this study were male 106 (64.2%), and by profession, the majority were physicians 77 (46.7%), followed by pharmacists and nurses. A majority 114 (69.1%) believed that it was not compulsory for HCPs to get vaccinated for influenza. Top three identified barriers to vaccination were: not everyone is familiar with the availability of the influenza vaccination at their institution (Relative importance weight factors (RIWF)=0.71), due to needle fear I do not like to get vaccinated (RIWF=0.70) and it is not compulsory for healthcare professionals to get vaccinated for influenza (RIWF=0.64). The logistic regression analysis has revealed association for job experience and profession with the most of the eleven knowledge item. However, when overall sum of eleven items were tested to identify the factors affecting the knowledge score, along with profession (-0.215 [-0.389 to 0.040]; p=0.016) and job experience (0.823 [0.521-1.125]; p<0.001) HCPs age (-0.409 [-0.755 to -0.064]; p=0.020) was found to be another significant factor affecting the total knowledge score of HCPs. Overall, scoring of the correct responses revealed that nurses have better knowledge and understanding about influenza and the influenza vaccination (6.5 ± 0.8, p<0.001*), followed by pharmacists (6.3 ± 1.14) and physicians. In spite of the published guidelines and recommendations, a very low percentage of the healthcare professionals in our hospital were vaccinated against influenza, and the barriers to vaccination were prevalent. Various strategies, including arranging seminars regarding awareness about vaccinations, are required to improve the knowledge and overall outcomes.
authors: School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor 45700, Malaysia. Electronic address: tahir.mehmood@monash.edu.
authors: Tahir Mehmood
authors: TM
authors: Khan
authors: Department of Pharmacy Services, Northwest General Hospital & Research Center, Peshawar, Pakistan; Department of Pharmacy, University of Swabi, Pakistan.
authors: Aziz Ullah
authors: AU
authors: Khan
authors: Department of Pharmacy Services, Northwest General Hospital & Research Center, Peshawar, Pakistan; Department of Pharmacy, University of Swabi, Pakistan.
authors: Iftikhar
authors: I
authors: Ali
authors: School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Bandar Sunway, Selangor 45700, Malaysia.
authors: David Bin-Chia
authors: DB
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010154:Pakistan; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines
keywords: Attitude; Awareness; Healthcare professionals; Influenza; Knowledge; Vaccination