Promotion of Influenza Vaccination in Healthcare Workers During the Recruitment Visit
Condition: Human Influenza Vaccination in Healthcare Workers
MeSH terms: Influenza, Human
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators will compare two groups, an intervention group with a control group. Each
      employee of the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) and the University Medical Policlinic
      of Lausanne (PMU) who will do his recruitment visit at the occupational medicine unit of the
      CHUV between 04/29/16 (end of previous influenza epidemic) and 31/10/16 (the day before the
      start of the next influenza vaccination campaign) and exert a function in regular contact
      with patients will be eligible. Depending on his employee number (assigned by the human
      resources administration, independent of any parameter), he will be placed in the
      intervention group G1 (odd number) or in the control group G2 (even number). The information
      concerning the distribution of these two groups will be noted in the computerized medical
      records of the employee at the occupational medicine unit (Medipho4D software, secured
      database). Thereafter, the employee will be received by the nurse of the he occupational
      medicine unit for a recruitment visit according to the usual process. The nurse will perform
      the study intervention in addition to the usual procedure if it is stipulated ''intervention
      group'' on the employee's record in the database or only perform the usual steps if it is
      stipulated ''control group''. At the beginning of the next influenza vaccination campaign
      (mid-November 2016), employees in the intervention group will receive a letter reminding then
      about the intervention given during the recruitment visit and inviting them to get
      vaccinated. During the next influenza vaccination campaign (11.01.16) and until the end of
      the influenza epidemic that will follow (April 2017), each employee will have the opportunity
      to be vaccinated at the different vaccination stalls set up by the occupational medicine
      unit. For each employee vaccinated, the date of vaccination and vaccine name is entered in
      the electronic medical records of the occupational medicine unit (Medipho4D software) by a
      nurse or a secretary of the unit. At the end of the human influenza epidemic (April 2017),
      the data will be extracted from the database (Medipho4D software) and anonymized by an
      individual not implicated in the study. Data from two groups will be analyzed and compared to
      assess whether the intervention conducted among newly hired employees promotes influenza
      vaccination.
    


Intervention name(s): Flu vaccination information in 3 phases
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): An oral information is given by the nurse during the recruitment visit at the occupational medicine unit. She initiates the discussion on flu and asks the employee if he usually receives the vaccine. Then she provides a brief standardized information on recommendations concerning flu vaccination, and the annual influenza vaccination campaign in CHUV and PMU. She responds to questions.
After the interview, she gives an informative document with key messages (information about the disease, benefits to be vaccinated, vaccine safety, etc.). The document includes frequently asked questions, website address, and the email address of the occupational medicine unit in case of questions.
The third phase consists of sending to the employee shortly after the start of the next campaign of flu vaccination (November 2016), a postal mail recalling the information provided during the recruitment examination and inviting them to get vaccinated.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention