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National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Applauds New Standard By the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations As an Important Step to Improve Influenza Vaccination of the Nation's Health Care Workers

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

BETHESDA, Md., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) applauds the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for announcing its new infection control policy that requires accredited organizations to offer influenza vaccination to staff, including volunteers and licensed practitioners with close patient contact. JCAHO's standard aligns with NFID's ongoing efforts to encourage health care institutions to implement policies and programs to increase vaccination rates among health care workers.

"This is an important first step toward improving influenza vaccination rates within the health care community, which will enhance the health and safety of patients in their care and health care workers themselves," said William Schaffner, MD, NFID vice president and professor and chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "We hope in the future this standard will be expanded to encompass various strategies to increase health care worker vaccine uptake, such as signed declination."

JCAHO's standard, set to take effect beginning January 1, 2007, aims to establish an annual influenza vaccination program and improve access to vaccinations on-site. The standard applies to its Critical Access Hospital, Hospital and Long Term Care accreditation programs.

The policy was established in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendation to improve historically low influenza immunization rates among health care workers in the U.S. Physicians, nurses and other health care professionals play an important role in preventing the spread of influenza by seeking immunization. Yet, despite long-standing recommendations, vaccination rates of health care providers remain alarmingly low -- under 40 percent overall.

"Research shows health care workers infected with influenza can transmit the virus to seriously ill patients in their care, many of whom may be at high risk for complications from this serious respiratory illness," said Dr. Schaffner. "Influenza and its complications can cause prolonged hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit and even death."

NFID Health Care Worker Initiative

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) has spearheaded efforts to encourage health care workers to receive an annual influenza immunization and suggest that health care institutions implement policy and programs to improve vaccination rates. This included a comprehensive Call to Action initiative launched in 2003, supported by more than 20 of the nation's leading medical groups, including JCAHO. These organizations agreed annual influenza vaccination among health care workers is an important goal for improved public health and patient safety.

In addition, NFID published a comprehensive report, Improving Influenza Vaccination Rates in Health Care Workers: Strategies to Increase Protection for Workers and Patients, which outlined the serious implications low influenza immunization rates have on patient safety, and provided strategies to address the issue. NFID's efforts brought the issue to the attention of policymakers and fueled discussion on the issue within the health care community.

NFID's health care worker influenza immunization publications are available on the organization's Web site, http://www.nfid.org/.

Importance of Annual Influenza Vaccination Among Health Care Workers

Health care workers can transmit the virus to their patients, putting them at risk for increased morbidity and mortality. Moreover, institutional influenza outbreaks can spread among health care workers themselves, causing staffing shortages and increased staffing costs. Several peer-reviewed studies showing the benefits to high-risk individuals of vaccinating their healthy contacts provide supporting evidence for recommendations to vaccinate healthcare workers.

Research shows several factors lead to low influenza vaccination rates among health care workers, including: lack of awareness of the recommendation for annual immunization, lack of access to vaccine, vaccine cost, misperception that influenza is not a serious disease and low awareness/concern about potential spread of the virus to patients. Influenza causes an average 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the U.S.

Founded in 1973, NFID is a non-profit organization dedicated to public and professional educational programs about infectious diseases.

Contact: Jennifer Corrigan

732-382-8898

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

CONTACT: Jennifer Corrigan, +1-732-382-8898, for The National Foundationfor Infectious Diseases

Web site: http://www.nfid.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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