Meeting the Challenge-Family Physicians Get Seasonal Flu Vaccinations for the Health of Their Patients and the Community
January 19, 2010

More than 70 family medicine clinics throughout the state met the health care worker ‘flu vaccination challenge’ posed by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) at the start of the influenza season. 

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 October, 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 middle 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.

The ‘flu vaccination challenge’ was developed in an effort to advocate for universal vaccination of healthcare workers against seasonal influenza through a “lead by example” program,” said Glenn Nemec, a Monticello family physician and MAFP board member. “The Academy recognizes that a cornerstone to flu prevention remains the vaccination of health care workers.”

 

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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.