Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
Spring 5-2019
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4242-7315
Document Type
DNP Project
Department
Nursing
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Faisal Aboul-Enein
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Sandra Cleveland
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Sharisse Hebert
Abstract
Influenza is a preventable communicable illness that has a significant impact on people of all ages. In 2018 it was estimated that 80,000 people died of influenza-related illnesses. Infants and elderly people are among the most vulnerable populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Healthy People 2020 recommend that health care facilities have a 90% vaccination rate. Despite the recommendations and a mandatory directive, many facilities within the Veterans Health Administration struggle to reach influenza vaccination rates above 60%. Pender’s health promotion model was used as the theoretical framework to explore the reasons why health care workers refuse the vaccine and whether an influenza educational intervention would increase willingness to accept the vaccine. To study this phenomenon, the researcher used a one-group pretest-posttest design and purposive sampling to recruit 64 unvaccinated health care workers at a Veterans Health Administration facility in the southeastern United States. Participants voluntarily enrolled in the study and completed a demographic profile and influenza pretest questionnaire. After a 15-minute educational intervention, participants completed an influenza posttest questionnaire. Results showed that a 15-minute educational presentation about influenza was effective in enhancing knowledge about goals for influenza vaccination among federal health care workers and willingness of unvaccinated federal employees to receive a flu vaccination. Among the 64 participants, knowledge of the Healthy People 2020 and The Joint Commission goal of reaching a 90% vaccination rate by 2020 increased from 54.7% to 87.5%. Participants’ willingness to receive the vaccination increased from 47.5% to 65.6%. Both were statistically significant improvements. Awareness of VHA Directive 1192 increased marginally, from 89.1% at pretest to 96.9% at posttest.
Keywords: health care workers, influenza prevention, declination programs, hospital employees, mandates
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Berfect-Shelby, Cynthia, "The Efficacy of an Educational Intervention to Improve Low Influenza Vaccination Rates Among Federal Health Care Workers" (2019). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 128.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/128