Practice nurses and health visitors have a perceived low level of knowledge about rotavirus disease and a lack of confidence about administering the vaccine, according to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The pharmaceutical company's survey of 60 practice nurses and 31 health visitors carried out during April 2013 across the UK, found that 12 per cent of nurses and 23 per cent of health visitors consider themselves to be either very or extremely knowledgeable about rotavirus, compared to 57 per cent (of nurses) and 61 per cent (of health visitors) stating that they are very or extremely knowledgeable about pertussis (whooping cough).
Furthermore, just 12 per cent of respondents said that they currently felt very or extremely confident about discussing rotavirus with parents.
However, when presented with five factual statements about rotavirus, approximately half or more respondents showed some level of agreement with each statement, suggesting that they did in fact know more than they gave themselves credit for.