Flu shot mandate doesn't spur worker flight, study finds

Requiring healthcare workers to get flu shots doesn't necessarily lead to high quitting rates, according to results of a newly released study.

The analysis examined a four-year period, beginning in 2009, when 535-bed Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Ill., became one of the first hospitals in the country to institute a mandatory influenza vaccination policy for its employees. Fewer than 15 of the hospital's 8,000 healthcare workers chose to voluntarily terminate their employment, the study said.

The results are scheduled to be presented June 9 at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, in Orlando, Fla.

Since the program was put in place, Loyola's employee vaccination rates have hovered between 99.2% and 98.7%.

“Near-universal flu immunization is achievable and sustainable with a mandatory vaccination policy,” Dr. Jorge Parada, professor of medicine at Loyola University of Chicago, and the lead author of the study, said in a news release. “Our employees and associates now understand that this is the way we do business.”

Parada compared the flu shot mandate to rules requiring construction workers to wear hard hats and steel-toed shoes when on job sites.

In 2011, APIC published a position paper that pushed for mandatory flu vaccination for all healthcare workers, unless medically contraindicated.

Follow Maureen McKinney on Twitter: @MHMMcKinney