News in brief - Dec. 26, 2011

Hospital mandate raises flu-vaccination rate - University of Pittsburgh center to target health disparities

Hospital mandate raises flu-vaccination rate

The University of California, Irvine Medical Center has achieved an influenza vaccination rate exceeding 90% with a policy that requires physicians, nurses and other workers at the hospital to wear a mask while in patient care areas if they forgo immunization. The mandate took effect in 2009, after a voluntary campaign that began in 2007 raised the vaccination rate among its 6,500 employees from about 45% to 60%, according to a study in the January 2012 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

"In moving to a mandatory program, we found that the majority of vaccine declinations for medical or religious reasons remained small throughout all flu seasons. In contrast, the proportion of declinations for preferential reasons, like philosophical beliefs or fear of needles, markedly decreased," said Susan Huang, MD, MPH, who co-wrote the study and is medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UC Irvine. Nationwide, health professional flu-vaccination rates range from 60% to 65%, according to the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

University of Pittsburgh center to target health disparities

A new center at the University of Pittsburgh has been established to reduce health disparities in western Pennsylvania. The Center for Health Equity is part of the university's Graduate School of Public Health. Center researchers will work toward identifying and alleviating high rates of preventable deaths among the region's medically underserved populations.

The center will build on the university's former Center for Minority Health, established in 1994.

"The center represents an evolution in the way public health workers and [the Graduate School of Public Health] tackle health disparities among our region's diverse population," said Donald Burke, MD, the school's dean.

The effort is being led by Michael J. Zigmond, PhD, professor of neurology, psychiatry and behavioral and community health sciences, and Angela Ford, PhD, who was associate director of the former Center for Minority Health.