Hospitals meet 90 percent flu vaccine challenge

Posted On: 4/10/13

Fifty OHA member hospitals met the challenge set forth by the OHA Council on Quality and Patient Safety to achieve a health care worker influenza vaccination rate of 90 percent or higher during the 2012-2013 flu season. Many of these hospitals met vaccination rates well above 90 percent and instituted new mandatory policies.

Hospitalized patients are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of influenza because their immune systems are often compromised by the illness that caused their admission or by the treatments they are undergoing. Vaccination of health care workers (HCWs) has been shown to prevent illness and death in patients and reduce influenza and absenteeism among HCWs. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended annual vaccination of HCWs since 1981, only about half of HCWs in the U.S. are immunized annually.

Several key national professional organizations have endorsed mandatory policies for influenza vaccination as a condition of employment within health care facilities, including the American Hospital Association. In 2011, the Oklahoma Hospital Association board of trustees developed a position statement urging mandatory influenza policies.

Forty-six percent of hospitals responding to a recent OHA survey have mandated influenza vaccination as a condition of employment. Another 20 percent have plans for such a policy in the future.

All hospitals that achieved a 90 percent employee vaccination rate will receive recognition through a statewide press release and will receive a certificate for display.

Hospitals meeting the 90 percent challenge are:

Cleveland Area Hospital
Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Lawton
Cordell Memorial Hospital
Duncan Regional Hospital
Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center, Poteau
Fairview Regional Medical Center
Grady Memorial Hospital, Chickasha
Great Plains Regional Medical Center, Elk City
Haskell County Community Hospital, Stigler
INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center, Oklahoma City
INTEGRIS Baptist Regional Health Center, Miami
INTEGRIS Bass Baptist Health Center, Enid
INTEGRIS Blackwell Regional Hospital
INTEGRIS Canadian Valley Hospital, Yukon
INTEGRIS Clinton Regional Hospital
INTEGRIS Grove Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Edmond
INTEGRIS Marshall County Medical Center, Madill
INTEGRIS Mayes County Medical Center, Pryor
INTEGRIS Seminole Medical Center
INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, Oklahoma City
Jackson County Memorial Hospital, Altus
Kingfisher Regional Hospital
Lawton Indian Hospital
Lindsay Municipal Hospital
Medical Center of Southeastern Oklahoma, Durant
Memorial Hospital & Physician Group, Frederick
Mercy Hospital Ardmore
Mercy Hospital Healdton
Mercy Hospital Logan County, Guthrie
Mercy Hospital Tishomingo
Mercy Hospital Watonga
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City
Newman Memorial Hospital, Shattuck
Norman Regional Health System
Okeene Municipal Hospital
Oklahoma Heart Hospital South, Oklahoma City
OU Medical Center, Oklahoma City
Pauls Valley General Hospital
Purcell Municipal Hospital
Select Specialty Hospital - Oklahoma City
Specialty Hospital of Midwest City
St. Anthony Hospital, Oklahoma City
St. Anthony Shawnee Hospital
St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, Enid
Stillwater Medical Center
The Children’s Center, Bethany
Wagoner Community Hospital
Weatherford Regional Hospital
W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital, Tahlequah