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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.
Forty-four 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 2020-2021 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, Oklahoma Hospital Association. “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 Oklahoma Hospital Association board of trustees developed a position statement urging mandatory influenza vaccination policies.
Hospitals and units meeting the 96 percent challenge are:
Arbuckle Memorial Hospital, Sulphur
Bailey Medical Center, Owasso
Carnegie Tri-County Municipal Hospital
Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Lawton
Comanche County Memorial Hospital - Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility, Lawton
Duncan Regional Hospital
Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center, Poteau
Elkview General Hospital, Hobart
Fairview Regional Medical Center
Great Plains Regional Medical Center - Inpatient Rehabilitation, Elk City
Hillcrest Hospital Claremore
Hillcrest Hospital Cushing
Hillcrest Hospital Henryetta
Hillcrest Hospital Pryor
INTEGRIS Health Edmond
INTEGRIS Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation, Oklahoma City
INTEGRIS Miami Hospital
INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center, Oklahoma City
Jackson County Memorial Hospital, Altus
Lakeside Women’s Hospital, Oklahoma City
McAlester Regional Health Center
McCurtain Memorial Hospital, Idabel
Mercy Health Love County, Marietta
Mercy Hospital Ada
Mercy Hospital Ada - Inpatient Psychiatric Facility
Mercy Hospital Ada - Inpatient Rehabilitation
Mercy Hospital Ardmore
Mercy Hospital Kingfisher
Mercy Hospital Logan County, Guthrie
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City
Mercy Hospital Tishomingo
Mercy Hospital Watonga
Norman Regional Health System
Norman Regional HealthPlex
Okeene Municipal Hospital
Oklahoma Heart Hospital South, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Tulsa
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital- Shawnee
Stillwater Medical Blackwell
Stillwater Medical Center
Stillwater Medical Perry
The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital, Bethany
Wagoner Community Hospital
Weatherford Regional Hospital