BMJ 1994;309:126 (9 July)

Letters

New guidelines are needed

EDITOR,--Martin Wiselka points out that the rate of uptake of influenza vaccine is surprisingly poor.1 In Grampian three factors contribute to this.

Firstly, analysis of all prescriptions for influenza vaccine in Grampian last autumn found that practice prescribing rates varied from 0.01 per 100 patients to 12.72 per 100 (data supplied by pharmacy practice division, Edinburgh). This variation did not correlate with the proportion of elderly patients in each practice, but small practices tended to have higher rates than larger practices. There was an appreciable difference between urban and rural practices, with all the practices with high prescribing rates being rural.

Secondly, a postal questionnaire survey of all 91 general practices in Grampian achieved a 91% response (88 responses). In 78 practices patients had refused the offer of vaccine last year (numbers ranged from one to more than 50).

Thirdly, 65 practices had had problems obtaining influenza vaccine last autumn. . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Influenza: diagnosis, management, and prophylaxis
Martin Wiselka
BMJ 1994 308: 1341-1345. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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