Brief reportVaccination coverage among students from a German health care college
Section snippets
Methods
A standardized self-administered questionnaire, which has been applied in several studies among health care students,4, 5 was used to examine students of nursing, pediatric nursing, physiotherapy, medical laboratory, technician, and midwifery in a health care college in Saxony, Germany, between January and March 2013. The questionnaire was completed voluntarily and anonymously during classes, resulting in a response rate of 100% (N = 420). Sociodemographic data, vaccination status, and attitude
Results
Most of the investigated health care students (70.1%) were between 16 and 21 years of age, and most of them were women (81.0%). Most of the students (50.4%) consumed alcohol in a harmless dimension or were abstinent (25.4%). Nearly two-thirds (61.8%) were nonsmokers, and 73.3% had no experience with illegal drugs (Table 1). Most students stated that vaccinations are absolutely necessary (50.2%) or at least partly necessary (46.9%).
The highest vaccination rates were reported for hepatitis B
Discussion
Strengths of the study were as follows: the outstanding response rate, the supraregional student body, and the well-established questionnaire.4, 5, 7 A limitation was the self-reported vaccination status without referring to the vaccination booklet.
It should be assumed that health care students, trained in health promotion and with a sound working knowledge of preventive practices, are aware of the need for complete vaccination coverage. However, vaccination coverage was unsatisfactory,
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully thank all the students who were included in the study.
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Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author contributions: Analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the article: Mäding, Münch, and Jacob. Acquisition of data and critical revision of its intellectual content: von Lindeman. Design and critical revision of its intellectual content: Klewer and Kugler.
Other information: All authors approved the final version.
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Equally contributed to the manuscript.