Healthcare Providers’ Adherence to Recommended Pneumococcal and Influenza Vaccination in Patients Discharged with Respiratory Diseases from General Medical Wards

Abstract

The periodic assessment of adherence to vaccination recommendations is an essential component of any vaccination process. This study aimed to investigate the adherence of healthcare providers to the international recommendations on influenza and pneumococcal vaccine in patients discharged from the internal medicine department with respiratory diseases. All medical records of adult patients who are 18 years of age and older with respiratory illnesses and who were discharged in January-February, May-June, and October-November of 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 264 discharge summaries from 190 patients were included in this analysis. The mean age was 55.5 years, with 54.7% of them being males. Pneumonia was the leading cause of hospitalization (63.7%), followed by asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation (27.4%). None of the discharged patients had immunization recommendations at discharge or a documented immunization request within 6 months of discharge from the hospital. The findings of this study demonstrated that healthcare providers need to pay more attention to adhering to the global recommendations on influenza and pneumococcal vaccine among patient who were recently discharged with respiratory disease. Additional measures are needed to improve adherence to routinely recommended vaccines among adults with respiratory diseases.