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Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors

Background: Recommendation from doctors is a well-recognized motivator toward vaccine uptake. Family doctors are in the prime position to advise the public on COVID-19 vaccination. We studied the practice and concerns of frontline family doctors concerning COVID-19 vaccination recommendations to pat...

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Autores principales: Poon, Paul Kwok Ming, Zhou, Weiju, Chan, Dicken Cheong Chun, Kwok, Kin On, Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8624411/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835250
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111319
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author Poon, Paul Kwok Ming
Zhou, Weiju
Chan, Dicken Cheong Chun
Kwok, Kin On
Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan
author_facet Poon, Paul Kwok Ming
Zhou, Weiju
Chan, Dicken Cheong Chun
Kwok, Kin On
Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan
author_sort Poon, Paul Kwok Ming
collection PubMed
description Background: Recommendation from doctors is a well-recognized motivator toward vaccine uptake. Family doctors are in the prime position to advise the public on COVID-19 vaccination. We studied the practice and concerns of frontline family doctors concerning COVID-19 vaccination recommendations to patients. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of all family doctors in the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians between June and July 2021. Their practice of making COVID-19 recommendation to patients was assessed. Based on the Health Belief Model, factors associated with doctors’ recommendation practices were explored and examined. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the factors, including COVID-19 vaccine attributes, associated with doctors’ practices in making recommendations. Their own vaccination status and psychological antecedents to vaccine hesitancy were measured. Results: A total of 312 family doctors responded (a 17.6% response rate). The proportion of doctors who had received COVID-19 vaccines was 90.1%. The proportion of doctors who would recommend all patients without contraindications for the vaccination was 64.4%. The proportion of doctors who would proactively discuss COVID-19 vaccines with patients was 52.9%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that doctors’ own COVID-19 vaccination status was the strongest predictor of family doctors making a recommendation to patients (aOR 12.23 95% CI 3.45–43.33). Longer duration of practice, willingness to initiate the relevant discussion with patients and less worry about vaccine side effects on chronic illness patients were the other factors associated with making a COVID-19 vaccination recommendation. Conclusions: Family doctors should be encouraged to get vaccinated themselves and initiate discussions with patients about COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine safety data on patients with chronic illness, training and guidelines for junior doctors may facilitate the COVID-19 vaccination recommendation practices of family doctors.
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spelling pubmed-86244112021-11-27 Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors Poon, Paul Kwok Ming Zhou, Weiju Chan, Dicken Cheong Chun Kwok, Kin On Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan Vaccines (Basel) Article Background: Recommendation from doctors is a well-recognized motivator toward vaccine uptake. Family doctors are in the prime position to advise the public on COVID-19 vaccination. We studied the practice and concerns of frontline family doctors concerning COVID-19 vaccination recommendations to patients. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of all family doctors in the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians between June and July 2021. Their practice of making COVID-19 recommendation to patients was assessed. Based on the Health Belief Model, factors associated with doctors’ recommendation practices were explored and examined. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the factors, including COVID-19 vaccine attributes, associated with doctors’ practices in making recommendations. Their own vaccination status and psychological antecedents to vaccine hesitancy were measured. Results: A total of 312 family doctors responded (a 17.6% response rate). The proportion of doctors who had received COVID-19 vaccines was 90.1%. The proportion of doctors who would recommend all patients without contraindications for the vaccination was 64.4%. The proportion of doctors who would proactively discuss COVID-19 vaccines with patients was 52.9%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that doctors’ own COVID-19 vaccination status was the strongest predictor of family doctors making a recommendation to patients (aOR 12.23 95% CI 3.45–43.33). Longer duration of practice, willingness to initiate the relevant discussion with patients and less worry about vaccine side effects on chronic illness patients were the other factors associated with making a COVID-19 vaccination recommendation. Conclusions: Family doctors should be encouraged to get vaccinated themselves and initiate discussions with patients about COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine safety data on patients with chronic illness, training and guidelines for junior doctors may facilitate the COVID-19 vaccination recommendation practices of family doctors. MDPI 2021-11-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8624411/ /pubmed/34835250 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111319 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Poon, Paul Kwok Ming
Zhou, Weiju
Chan, Dicken Cheong Chun
Kwok, Kin On
Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan
Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title_full Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title_fullStr Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title_full_unstemmed Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title_short Recommending COVID-19 Vaccines to Patients: Practice and Concerns of Frontline Family Doctors
title_sort recommending covid-19 vaccines to patients: practice and concerns of frontline family doctors
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8624411/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34835250
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9111319
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