Otolaryngology practitioner attitudes toward human papillomavirus vaccination in academic otolaryngology clinics

Despite the existence of a highly effective and safe vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, vaccination rates remain low. The most prevalent HPV-associated malignancy in the United States is oropharyngeal cancer, but otolaryngology practitioners do not offer the HPV vaccine, and their feelings around offering HPV vaccination have not been evaluated. A 43-question survey, including a twelve-question knowledge quiz, was sent to otolaryngology practitioners at seven academic institutions. Twelve questions comprised a knowledge quiz testing practitioner understanding of HPV, while the remainder of the questions evaluated comfort with and likelihood of recommending vaccination. Of the 442 practitioners who were sent the survey, 207 (47 %) completed it, including 27 (13 %) advanced practice providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, or speech language pathologists), 89 (43 %) residents or fellows, and 91 (44 %) attending physicians. Together, 181/207 (87 %) of providers were “relatively likely” (n = 54, 26 %) or “extremely likely” (n = 127, 61 %) to offer vaccination. Likelihood of offering the vaccine was associated with multiple measures of provider confidence regarding HPV vaccination discussions, and was not associated with provider type, attending physician subspecialty, or knowledge quiz accuracy (p = 0.11, p = 0.35, and p = 0.67, respectively). In summary, this study suggests a possible new avenue for point-of-care vaccines against HPV. Efforts to improve otolaryngology provider confidence with this recommendation are needed.