Keywords

Prevention of infection

Abstract

Background: In Utah, all major hospital facilities have employee vaccination policies. However, the presence of health care worker vaccination policies in the Utah outpatient oncology setting was unknown.

Objectives: The objectives were to identify Utah oncology outpatient employee vaccination policies and to identify what consequences, if any, were present for unvaccinated employees.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study design in which clinic managers from outpatient oncology clinics in Utah were asked, via questionnaire, to describe the clinic’s employee vaccination policy and the consequences for refusing the policy.

Findings: Most vaccination policies applied to employees primarily assigned to work in the back office area. Most commonly, influenza and Hepatitis B vaccines were required as part of the vaccination policy. Most managers offered free vaccinations to employees, although most managers also allowed employees to refuse to follow the vaccination policy for medical, religious, or personal reasons.

Implications for practice:

  • Oncology nurses can and should shape clinic vaccination policies that positively influence health and safety of oncology patients.
  • Oncology nurses should strongly endorse the CDC’s health care worker vaccine recommendations and collaborate with clinic policymakers to enact and enforce strict vaccination policies.
  • Oncology nurses should oppose policies allowing health care workers to refuse vaccines for personal reasons.
  • Oncology nurses can easily adapt established vaccination policies in local hospitals to the outpatient oncology setting.

Original Publication Citation

Luthy, K. E., Stocksdale, S. L., Macintosh, J. L., Eden, L. M., Beckstrand, R. L., & Edmonds, K. (2016). Evaluation of Employee Vaccination Policies in Outpatient Oncology Clinics: A Pilot Study. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 20(5), 492. doi:10.1188/16.CJON.492-497

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2015-12-11

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/3703

Publisher

Oncology Nursing Society (ONS)

Language

English

College

Nursing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

Included in

Nursing Commons

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