Comparison of the Perspectives of the Physicians Working at the Family Health Centers in Erzurum City Center on Seasonal Influenza Vaccine, Applications to themselves and their Suggestions to the Patients

Abstract

Purpose: The aims of this study was to determine the perspective of family physicians working in primary care on the seasonal influenza vaccine and to investigate the relationship between administering the vaccine to themselves and recommending of the vaccine to their patients. Materials and Methods: The sample of our questionnaire study, which is a cross-sectional study, consists of family physicians working in the Family Health Centers in Erzurum city center between March and May 2019. A questionnaire with 17 questions was applied to the participants. Results: The 137 family physicians were included in the study. Family physicians were asked whether they had a seasonal flu vaccine before, and it was determined that 66 (48.2%) of 137 physicians had been vaccinated with the seasonal flu vaccine before, but 71 (51.8%) of them did not have the seasonal flu vaccine before. It was learned that 9 of the participants (6.6%) did not recommend the seasonal flu vaccine to any of their patients, whereas 12 (8.8%) of them recommended it to all their patients. The remaining 116 (84.7%) physicians recommended it to their risky patients. It was observed that there was a statistically significant difference in the frequency of recommending seasonal influenza vaccine to the patients between general practitioners and family medicine specialists (p<0.005). Conclusion: Although most of the physicians think that they have sufficient knowledge about the flu vaccine, the rates of recommendation and vaccination are very low.

Keywords

• family medicine
• influenza
• vaccine