Running head: INCREASING HPV VACCINATION RATES
Project Proposal: Increasing Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Rates
Stephanie Halbleib
NUR 4050
October 28, 2014
Professor Bearringer
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INCREASING HPV VACCINATION RATES
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Increasing HPV Vaccine
The success of any vaccine or treatment is dependent upon many factors, including the
need for support from healthcare professionals and the general public. Further, this support
requires an appropriate understanding of the risks associated with human papillomavirus (HPV)
as well as the benefits, and drawbacks, of vaccination to prevent an infection. While awareness
of HPV is relatively high among healthcare providers, there is an unfortunate is a confusion
about the various types of HPV, an uncertainty about how HPV leads to cervical cancer, and
little knowledge about the HPV vaccine other than the information presented by the media.
Effective HPV education and training programs must be put in place in order to achieve the
public health benefit.
Leaders within healthcare organizations should continue seeking improvement by using a
variety of areas, one critical area to concentrate attention on is teaching nurses to better educate
their patient about the HPV vaccine. This in-service can reinforce staff nurses by using the
transformational leadership theory, identifying possible barriers to learning, and overcoming
barriers with the use of varied teaching methods.
Why Vaccinate for Human Papillomavirus
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the
United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most
sexually active American men and women will contract at least one type of HPV virus during
their lifetime (2012). 74 percent of new infections occur among young people age 15–24.
Furthermore, an estimated 33,000 HPV-associated cancers occur annually in the U.S., including
an estimated 12,600 HPV-associated cancers in males (Association of Women’s Health,
Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 2010).
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Although the Gardasil and Cervarix vaccines only cover four out of the more than 100
types of human papillomaviruses they cover the HPV 16 and 18 that are responsible for 70
percent of cervical cancers and HPV 6 and 11 that cause approximately 90 percent of genital
warts. These two prophylactic HPV vaccines have been shown in clinical trials to have high
efficacy for prevention of infection and associated disease due to HPV types (Association of
Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 2010). Nurse leaders have the job of learning
about HPV and vaccination options so that they are able to educate teenagers and their parents
about HPV, and the HPV vaccination in order to help decrease the prevalence of this sexuallytransmitted infection.
Leadership Theory
Leaders who desire to make improvements within an organization are faced with a
substantially different challenge when teaching patients about the vaccination than they did in
years past. A leadership model that would be beneficial in educating nurses about the human
papillomavirus vaccination is the transformational leadership theory. Klainberg and Drischel
(2010) describe a transformational leader as being “concerned with ensuring that both followers
and leaders share the vision to change the organization, and that they will work together toward
that common goal” (p. 67). Leaders that use the transformational theory will have better
outcomes across the board because everyone is working towards the same goal.
The transformational leadership style leads its “followers to levels of higher moral
because such leaders do the right thing for the right reason, treat people with care and
compassion, encourage followers to be more creative and innovative, and inspire others with
their vision” (Marquis & Huston, 2012, p. 14). The instructor can use this theory to empower
nurses to strive for improvement through lifelong learning. Empowering the audience with up-to-
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date information will improve nurses’ confidence in educating patients about HPV and
vaccination options. Nurses as health educators need to understand their diverse audience and be
able respond appropriately to the needs of each member. Transformational leadership theory can
be used to empower nurses to accept the responsibility to educate patients correctly about the
HPV vaccination.
Teaching Method
Resistance and barriers of teaching a group of nurses could be overcome by gearing each
teaching section to the audience, and utilizing multiple learning tools. A pre-test and post-test is
a great tool to assess the amount of knowledge that nurses learned from the presentation.
Likewise, giving copies of the presentation would enable the nurses to recall important
information. The option for continued education and reinforcement in knowledge allow nurses to
provide safe, proficient care to their patients. When nurses understand, when they learn how to
better educate their patients about HPV, they will have more positive patient outcomes and
increased patient satisfaction also serves to intensify the nurse’s job satisfaction. Using these
methods will help to ensure that all nurses are engaged and will retain information for future use.
Barriers
Successfully teaching a group of nurses requires identification of possible barriers that
will likely be encountered. It is important to keep in mind that each nurse will have a different
education level about HPV vaccine, come from a different age groups, can have different skill
level, come from different cultural backgrounds, or have different factors that impede their
willingness to learn. Resistance could be overcome by gearing each in-service to the audience
requirements based on the audiences pre-test. Another factor that could hinder nurses from
learning is the fact that they do not believe that they should have to re-learn information.
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However, continuing education and reinforcing knowledge allows nurses to provide competent
education and safe care to their patients.
The nurse needs to understand essential element of normal adolescent development so
that the nurse can establish and direct a therapeutic dialogue. Preteens tend to be concrete
thinkers, and teenagers are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors. Therefore, nurses
need to understand communication with these patient about HPV, the HPV vaccine, and other
health issues may be enhanced by listening attentively, using terms the adolescent understands,
remaining focused, and avoiding lectures and writing during the course of the conversation.
Parents who were not supportive of the HPV vaccine could have convinced their children that
the vaccine is harmful or not necessary and the parents have the ultimate say as to whether their
child receives the vaccine. Therefore, the uses of transformational leadership would help nurses
learn how to better educate teenagers as well as their parents through a collaborative discussion.
Conclusion
Nurses need to understand the importance of HPV vaccination, so that they can properly
educate their patients about the importance of receiving the HPV vaccination. By using the
transformational leadership theory, this allows the nurse leader presenting the in-service to direct
the teaching towards the goal of ensuring all nurses understand the information about HPV and
the HPV vaccination, as well as ensuring they know how to properly inform their patients
utilizing the transformational leadership theory. When teaching a group of nurses or informing
patients that having varying backgrounds, it is important to identify the barriers of learning and
to use a leadership theory that will engage, and aid in successfully teaching the entire audience.
INCREASING HPV VACCINATION RATES
References
Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. (2010). HPV Vaccination for
the Prevention of Cervical Cancer. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal
Nursing, 39(1), 129-130. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.15526909.2009.01097.x.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). HPV Vaccine Information for Clinicians.
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV-vaccine-hcp.htm.
Klainberg, M. B., & Dirschel, K. M. (2010). Today's nursing leader: Managing, succeeding,
excelling. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Marquis, B., & Huston, C. (2012). Leadership and management tools for the new nurse: A case
study approach. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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