Oklahoma hospitals meet 96 percent influenza vaccine challenge
Posted on: 8/9/19
Forty-seven Oklahoma hospitals and hospital specialty units have met a challenge from the Oklahoma Hospital Association to achieve a health care worker influenza vaccination rate of 96 percent or higher during the 2018-2019 flu season.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): “Influenza places a substantial burden on the health of people in the United States each year. CDC estimates that influenza has resulted in between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses, between 140,000 and 710,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths annually since 2010.”
“And the risk of complications from influenza is higher among the types of people who are admitted to our hospitals,” said LaWanna Halstead, vice president of quality and clinical initiatives, OHA. “These hospitals have developed policies and processes that ensure their patients and employees are protected.”
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 personnel (HCPs) has been shown to prevent illness and death in patients and reduce influenza and absenteeism among HCPs. The CDC has recommended annual vaccination of HCPs since 1984.
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 OHA board of trustees developed a position statement urging mandatory influenza policies.
Hospitals meeting the 96 percent challenge are:
Arbuckle Memorial Hospital, Sulphur
Bailey Medical Center, Owasso
Blackwell Regional Hospital
Cherokee Nation W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital, Tahlequah
Chickasaw Nation Department of Health, Ada
Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority, Talihina
Creek Nation Community Hospital, Okemah
Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center, Poteau
Grady Memorial Hospital, Chickasha
Hillcrest Hospital Claremore
Hillcrest Hospital Cushing
Hillcrest Hospital Pryor
INTEGRIS Bass Pavilion, Enid
INTEGRIS Canadian Valley Hospital, Yukon
INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation, Oklahoma City
INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, Oklahoma City
Jackson County Memorial Hospital, Altus
McAlester Regional Health Center
McBride Orthopedic Hospital, Oklahoma City
Mercy Hospital Ada
Mercy Hospital Ardmore - Acute Care
Mercy Hospital Ardmore - Rehab-IRF
Mercy Hospital Ardmore Senior Behavioral Health-IPF
Mercy Health Love County, Marietta
Mercy Hospital Healdton
Mercy Hospital Kingfisher
Mercy Hospital Logan County, Guthrie
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City
Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Oklahoma City
Norman Regional Health System
Norman Regional HealthPlex
Okeene Municipal Hospital and Medical Clinic
Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Heart Hospital South, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Surgical Hospital, Tulsa
Purcell Municipal Hospital
Seiling Regional Medical Center
Select Specialty Hospital, Oklahoma City
Share Medical Center, Alva
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Oklahoma City
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee
St. John Broken Arrow
St. John Medical Center, Tulsa
St. John Owasso
St. John Sapulpa
St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, Enid
Stillwater Medical – Perry
Stillwater Medical Center
The Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital, Bethany
Wagoner Community Hospital