Health care organizations have a responsibility to promote and provide education about measures that can prevent illness in the general community. This includes preventive care such as screenings, immunizations, and important self-care necessary to maintain good health. Preventative care measures that are publically reported are based on promoting and providing guidance on protecting against the influenza virus, commonly known as the flu.
The flu virus is associated with over 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths each year in the United States. The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccination as the first and most important step in protecting yourself and others from this illness.
How does UAB Medicine perform?
| Timely & Effective Measures | National Average | Alabama Average | UAB Hospital | Comparison Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preventive care: patients assessed and given the influenza vaccination | 79% | 73% | 64% | |
| Preventive care: healthcare workers given influenza vaccination | 86% | 87% | 99% | |
| Preventive care: : Patients discharged on antipsychotic medications who had body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol level screenings in the past year | 77% | 82% | 85% |
What is UAB Medicine doing to improve?
UAB Medicine provides education and encouragement to all inpatients and outpatients about getting their yearly flu vaccine. These measures are important to us because they represent the best known way to protect the community from harm related to the flu.
- To encourage and offer the flu shot to more people, UAB Medicine offers the vaccination at many clinic locations and even opened a new clinic in 2017 solely dedicated to providing flu shots at The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital.
- Furthering our commitment to protect our community, UAB Medicine made annual flu vaccination mandatory for all UAB Medicine employees that same year. By asking all staff and volunteers to receive the vaccine, not only do we protect patients from catching the flu from one of us, we also help ensure that staff are able to work and provide care for all of our patients during flu season.