Meeting the Challenge Again: Family Physicians Get Flu Vaccinations to Keep the Community Health
February 1, 2011

 The second year of a flu vaccination project proved to be successful as family doctors at more than 70 clinics throughout the state met 'the challenge' posed by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP).

 The MAFP wishes to congratulate the family physicians of all participating clinics for meeting the challenge in order to keep themselves, their patients and the community healthy.

In September, managers of Minnesota’s family medicine clinics were sent a letter asking them to make an aggressive effort to get all health care workers vaccinated.  In particular, those clinics that were able to achieve a 100-percent vaccination rate among family physicians by the end of November were awarded a certificate of achievement from the MAFP.  Clinics were asked to display the certificate in a public area so patients could see the steps their doctors had taken to assure their safety.  The ‘flu vaccination challenge’ also offered family physicians a chance to serve as role models for other clinic employees.  It was developed in an effort to advocate for universal vaccination of healthcare workers against seasonal influenza through a “lead by example” program.  Next year, the MAFP hopes to involve other health care workers in the project.

 

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The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians is a professional association of approximately 3,000 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students organized to assist family physicians in providing quality medical care in Minnesota. The MAFP is the largest medical specialty organization in Minnesota and is a state chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with more than 94,000 members.