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Immunization is one of the most effective measures for protecting children from serious illness and death resulting from vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccines have been so successful that many parents no longer fear many diseases that can cause permanent harm or even death. Many do not remember, for example, when paralytic poliomyelitis was rampant. Fuelled by stories and myths in the popular press about the possible dangers of vaccines, parents question the necessity and safety of vaccinating their children.(1) The erosion of confidence in immunization through complacency and misinformation could lead to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
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In addition to being trusted sources of information, nurses are one of the health care providers who have "a professional obligation to educate parents and to correct misconceptions."(2) Nurses are excellent educators, and pediatric nurses in all settings should take opportunities to discuss the importance of immunization.(3) Considering those statements, a group of nurses, a physician and an educational consultant at a large university-affiliated, pediatric tertiary health care centre in Ontario recently tested the hypothesis that pediatric nurses are asked for immunization information by parents and other members of the public. Other purposes of our study were to determine whether the nurses feel prepared for this role, whether they support routine childhood immunization and whether they think that they should have a general working knowledge about this topic.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There is little published literature looking at hospital-based pediatric nurses' knowledge of and level of confidence in providing information about immunization to parents. For example, the proceedings from the 1996, 1998 and 2000 National Immunization Conferences(4) contain no data about pediatric nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward immunization in tertiary care centres in Canada.
In 1992, researchers at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Centre surveyed 46 pediatric nurses about their knowledge of the recommended immunizations for infants and children and to learn their perceptions of the nurse's role in immunization.(5) Of the 30 nurses who responded, 25 (83%) thought that nurses in a tertiary care centre need to play an important role in immunization, yet it was found that many may not have sufficient knowledge to implement this role. A Montreal study in 1998 assessed the attitudes, beliefs and practices of...