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Published on: December 1, 2017
An evaluation of influenza vaccine uptake in UK medical students
Insights
Medical students show varied influenza vaccination rates, with preclinical students more likely to be vaccinated. Scepticism and access issues hinder uptake, suggesting curriculum integration and centralized programs could improve vaccination coverage.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Vaccinology
- Medical Education
Background:
- Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for UK healthcare workers to protect vulnerable patients.
- Influenza vaccine uptake in medical students is not monitored by the UK government.
- Medical students are at increased risk and can act as vectors for influenza transmission.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate an influenza vaccination program's effectiveness in a UK medical school.
- To identify factors influencing medical student vaccination rates.
- To propose recommendations for increasing future vaccination uptake.
Main Methods:
- A service evaluation was conducted at one UK medical school.
- 251 students across different course stages completed questionnaires.
- Questionnaires assessed vaccination status and reasons for refusal using Likert-scale beliefs.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in vaccination rates observed between year groups (~20%), with higher rates in preclinical years.
- Skepticism regarding vaccine effectiveness and inconvenient access were significant predictors of non-vaccination.
- Integrating vaccine information into the curriculum and centralizing programs at university events were suggested solutions.
Conclusions:
- This evaluation identified key predictors of vaccination status among medical students.
- Findings support the implementation of targeted occupational health interventions to enhance vaccine uptake in this demographic.
Background:
The annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all front-line healthcare workers in the UK and is a crucial way of reducing mortality for vulnerable patient groups. However, to date the UK government has never explicitly monitored influenza vaccine uptake in medical students. This is important to ascertain, as students regularly move between clinical areas and are both a perfect vector for the spread of influenza and at an increased risk of contracting influenza themselves.
Aims:
This service evaluation was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an influenza vaccination programme in one UK medical school and make recommendations to increase vaccination rates in the future.
Methods:
This service evaluation collected data about medical student uptake of influenza vaccination in one UK medical school. Two hundred and fifty-one students at different course stages completed questionnaires, answering questions on vaccination status and Likert-scale 'belief' questions to assess the subjective reasons behind vaccine refusal.
Results:
There was a substantial difference between year group cohorts (~20%), with significantly higher vaccination rates in the preclinical year group. Two significant negative predictors of vaccination were found (P < 0.001), related to scepticism over the effectiveness of the vaccine and lack of convenient access to the vaccination. Results indicated that integrating information about the influenza vaccine into the curriculum would reduce lack of knowledge over the efficacy of the vaccine. The centralization of vaccination programmes at mandatory university-based learning events would mitigate against the problem of diversity of vaccination locations and lack of central accountability.
Conclusions:
The results of this service evaluation provide significant predictors of vaccination status for medical students and potential occupational health interventions to improve vaccine uptake in this group.
