Educational recommendations from the knowledge, attitudes and practice of Free State Province paramedics regarding vaccination policies

University of the Free State 2020-02

The Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act no. 85 of 1993) promotes the health, safety and protection of employees against occupational hazards. Although managers are expected to implement the above policy, it remains the responsibility of every employee to ensure their health and safety at all times. However, Healthcare workers (HCWs), in particular paramedics, are at increased risk of contracting infectious diseases due to the hands-on nature of their work. A number of life-threatening infectious diseases have been identified and classified as occupational hazards, which puts paramedics at increased risk - some of which are vaccine-preventable. However, a low compliance with vaccination policies have been reported amongst HCWs, including paramedics. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are investigated and recommendations to enhance future compliance are made from reviewing of the results. The need for appropriate vaccination of paramedics has been identified. Research was therefore required to address this problem and so ensure the preparedness of paramedics when managing patients in the pre-hospital environment. This study developed educational recommendations that may enhance compliance of Free State Province paramedics with vaccination policies. The aim of the study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) of Free State Province paramedics regarding vaccination policies, and to develop educational recommendations that may enhance future compliance. This study was done in the field of Health Professions Education (HPE) and lies in the domain of pre-hospital Emergency Medical Care (EMC). In this study, the researcher explored the KAP of Free State Province paramedics with reference to their compliance with vaccination policies. The researcher made use of an explorative, non-experimental research design. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data which were statistically analysed and presented as percentages and frequencies, an

Dissertation (M.HPE. (Health Professions Education))--University of the Free State, 2020; Occupational health and safety; Healthcare workers; Occupational hazards; Vaccination; Educational recommendations; UCTD; Dissertation

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