Organizational factors associated with Health Care Provider (HCP) influenza campaigns in the Veterans health care system: a qualitative study.

Background: It is an important goal to vaccinate a high proportion of health care providers (HCPs) against influenza, to prevent transmission to patients. Different aspects of how a HCP vaccination campaign is conducted may be linked to different vaccination rates. We sought to characterize organizational factors and practices that were associated with vaccination campaign success among six sites within the Veterans Health Administration, where receipt of flu-vaccination is voluntary.

Innovative approaches for understanding seasonal influenza vaccine declination in healthcare personnel support development of new campaign strategies.

Objective: The main objectives of our study were to explore reasons for seasonal influenza vaccine acceptance and declination in employees of a large integrated healthcare system and to identify underlying constructs that influence acceptance versus declination. Secondary objectives were to determine whether vaccine acceptance varied by hospital location and to identify facility-level measures that explained variability.

Design: A national health promotion survey of employees was conducted that included items on vaccination in the 2009-2010 influenza season.