Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/
Accessed 24 November 2012

Nurses can help improve vaccination rates: study
By Genevra Pittman
NEW YORK | Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:58am EST

Excerpt
(Reuters Health) – More elderly and at-risk adults get their flu and pneumonia vaccinations when the shots are coordinated and given by nurses instead of doctors, a new analysis suggests.

Researchers linked the changeover to a 44-percent increase in patients’ chances of getting a flu shot and a more than doubling of their likelihood of getting vaccinated against pneumonia.

Jeffrey Johnson, who worked on the study, said there’s been a recent effort to get public health nurses and pharmacists involved in giving vaccines – although policies vary by state in the U.S.    He said shifting responsibility to non-doctors might be especially helpful for people with chronic diseases.

“The family physician has all of the responsibility to look after the patient, and so somebody with diabetes, for example, comes in and their first concern is their blood sugar and their blood pressure and pretty soon, the time for the visit is up,” Johnson, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, told Reuters Health…

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/23/us-nurses-vaccination-idUSBRE8AM0IK20121123