Helping healthcare workers decide: evaluation of an influenza immunization decision tool

Healthcare workers (HCW) experience decisional conflict or uncertainty of the best alternative when deciding about influenza immunization. Despite free and easy access to influenza vaccine, and resource consuming campaigns, immunization rates among HCW remain unacceptably low. This is in part due to decisional conflict, which may be alleviated by a decision aid. To address this issue we developed the Ottawa Influenza Decision Aid (OIDA) to help HCW make an informed decision about influenza immunization. The OIDA was tested in a large acute care hospital during the influenza immunization campaign. We recruited HCWs from the Orthopaedic Ward and Logistical Services, using block randomization, to complete the OIDA and a feedback questionnaire. The majority (85%) of respondents that completed the OIDA felt that immunization was very important to avoid getting influenza and 95% were sure of the best choice for them. In response to the feedback questionnaire, 84% of respondents found the information clear and 77% concluded the OIDA helped them to recognize a decision. Results of this study support the OIDA as a useful tool for HCWs considering influenza immunization. This study is an important step towards evaluating the usefulness of the OIDA within prevention campaigns. Recommendations include evaluation of the OIDA by incorporating it into large-scale influenza immunization campaigns.