1. Hepatitis B vaccination coverage levels among nurses in Greece: need for improvement
- Author
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Ioannis Kyriazis, Eleni Apostolopoulou, Eleni Tobrou, Emmanouel Androulakis, Konstantinos Terzis, Maria Saridi, Anastasios Giolis, Efstathios Skliros, Aikaterini Toska, and Vasiliki Pappa
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,business.industry ,MEDLINE ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Preventive vaccination ,Hepatitis B infection ,Hepatitis b vaccination ,Intensive care ,Family medicine ,Vaccination coverage ,Medicine ,Medical emergency ,business - Abstract
Objectives : The aims of this study were to estimate the hepatitis B vaccination coverage levels among nurses and understand the reasons for receiving or not receiving the preventive vaccination. Methods : This cross-sectional study was based on a self-reported questionnaire, which was administered to 788 nurses working in 17 hospitals in Greece. Results : Overall, 606 out of 784 participants (77.3%) completed the survey. Of these, 63.2% nurses reported that they were fully vaccinated. The majority of immunized nurses (66%) were female (P = 0.008), and 72.6% of the fully-vaccinated nurses were working in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Conclusions : This study showed that almost 40% of nurses are not protected against hepatitis B infection. There is a need for a more aggressive approach to increase the vaccination coverage among nurses.
- Published
- 2011