We also showed that in addition to previous vaccination with seasonal influenza, preventive behaviours such as frequent hand washing practice were independently associated with nurses' willingness to accept influenza A (H1N1) vaccination. We showed that "have been washing hands between and before patient contact" was negatively associated with willingness to accept vaccination independently although the reason for this is unclear and be a result of our relatively small sample. We can only postulate that the barrier to pandemic influenza vaccination is probably not related to the willingness of nurses to protect themselves against infections or their personal hygiene in general. Researchers [17] have suggested one of the barriers to pandemic influenza vaccination in nurses was misconceptions about the purpose of vaccinations in which nurse might think that the aim of vaccination was for self protection rather than to protect at risk populations in contact with them [17, 23, 25] . Specific vaccination policy for health care workers may improve vaccination in this group as nurses have different concerns and priorities when compared to the general public's concerns [17, 25] .