mandatory flu shot

greenerpastures · Feb 5, 2015

1. We have been told our work will go to mandatory requirement next year. Mask is not an option. Flu shot or fired/let go for noncompliance.

2. Flu shot is 23% effective this year - that percentage is a good reason to NOT get the flu shot. However, most hospitals are going to mandatory shots regardless of the ineffectiveness/mutation possibilities.

3. My work policy - if you choose to wear a mask this year, it has to be changed EVERY time you go into/out of a patient's room, you can't wear one mask all shift.

4. Staff that got a flu shot have a bright sticker on their name tag. Therefore, in essence, I'm required to walk around with my immunization history in plain view. While it's not a HIPAA issue, it is very tacky and does alert patients to staff that have chosen NOT to have a flu shot for whatever reason.

dinah77, ADN · Feb 5, 2015

Wearing a mask does not mean someone hasn't had a flu shot, unless they say so, in which case they would have divulged their own information.

Exactly. I wear a mask while working if I feel like I have a cold coming on to protect my patients

dinah77, ADN · Feb 5, 2015

1. We have been told our work will go to mandatory requirement next year. Mask is not an option. Flu shot or fired/let go for noncompliance.
2. Flu shot is 23% effective this year - that percentage is a good reason to NOT get the flu shot. However, most hospitals are going to mandatory shots regardless of the ineffectiveness/mutation possibilities.
3. My work policy - if you choose to wear a mask this year, it has to be changed EVERY time you go into/out of a patient's room, you can't wear one mask all shift.
4. Staff that got a flu shot have a bright sticker on their name tag. Therefore, in essence, I'm required to walk around with my immunization history in plain view. While it's not a HIPAA issue, it is very tacky and does alert patients to staff that have chosen NOT to have a flu shot for whatever reason.

Dear Lord. Get the dang shot

Yes, it was not as effective this year, but it shortened the flu of anyone who had the shot and got a strain that was not covered.

You are a health care provider- your patient's safety overrides whatever silly objections you may have to it.

And I applaud your employer for the sticker on the badge thing-Health care professionals who do not have an allergy/medical reason to not be immunized should be shamed-

We are supposed to heal and promote health, not harm it by putting our patients at risk

turtlesRcool · Feb 5, 2015

1. We have been told our work will go to mandatory requirement next year. Mask is not an option. Flu shot or fired/let go for noncompliance.
2. Flu shot is 23% effective this year - that percentage is a good reason to NOT get the flu shot. However, most hospitals are going to mandatory shots regardless of the ineffectiveness/mutation possibilities.
3. My work policy - if you choose to wear a mask this year, it has to be changed EVERY time you go into/out of a patient's room, you can't wear one mask all shift.
4. Staff that got a flu shot have a bright sticker on their name tag. Therefore, in essence, I'm required to walk around with my immunization history in plain view. While it's not a HIPAA issue, it is very tacky and does alert patients to staff that have chosen NOT to have a flu shot for whatever reason.

Actually, the relatively low efficacy of this year's flu shot is a good reason to get the flu shot, from the perspective of herd immunity. It means that more people are susceptible to the flu, so more people need to get the shot to create protection for patients. Because the efficacy is only partial, you want to have as many people as possible have that partial immunity. When the flu shot is more effective, it takes fewer vaccinated nurses to create the same level of protection.

And really, 23% protection is better than 0% protection. Also, even if you do get the flu, having the vaccine can make it a milder case. So why is some protection (rather than no protection) NOT a good reason to get the vaccine?

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

I have no problem with the mandatory flu shot. I hate shots, but it's one a year so I'll deal with it. Unless there is a very good reason for a nurse not to get it, like an allergy...get it! If nothing else it seems kind of wrong to me to try to convince somebody else to get an annual vaccine that I refuse to get myself.

greenerpastures · Feb 5, 2015

Dinah77 and turtlesrcool,

I was merely trying to give the original poster relevant information on what my hospital was doing to answer her original post. No need to be condescending in your remarks. Yes I am a nurse who supports good health, but I also believe in the premise of being allowed to CHOOSE what one does with the body.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

Dinah77 and turtlesrcool,
I was merely trying to give the original poster relevant information on what my hospital was doing to answer her original post. No need to be condescending in your remarks. Yes I am a nurse who supports good health, but I also believe in the premise of being allowed to CHOOSE what one does with the body.

No one will ever take away that choice from any nurse. There well may be consequences to that choice which are unpleasant, but I think it is disingenuous when nurses (not necessarily you) say that facilities are taking away their choice with what they do to their body. Nope! Not true.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

Actually, the relatively low efficacy of this year's flu shot is a good reason to get the flu shot, from the perspective of herd immunity. It means that more people are susceptible to the flu, so more people need to get the shot to create protection for patients. Because the efficacy is only partial, you want to have as many people as possible have that partial immunity. When the flu shot is more effective, it takes fewer vaccinated nurses to create the same level of protection.
And really, 23% protection is better than 0% protection. Also, even if you do get the flu, having the vaccine can make it a milder case. So why is some protection (rather than no protection) NOT a good reason to get the vaccine?

Yeah, I don't get the logic there (of the post to which you were replying).

leslie.knope · Feb 5, 2015

I believe eneryone should have the option to make their own decision

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

It's HIPAA, not HIPPA. Which is in place to protect the patient---not you, unless of course you ARE the patient. No one is being FORCED to receive a flu shot, clearly options are out there, if you don't want one, you get to wear a mask.

I happen to work in a specialty where I spend probably 2/3 of my day in a mask. Not once has anyone ever said "Oh, so you didn't get a flu shot?" For the record, I did, but no one bats an eye about staff wearing a mask. I think you're overthinking your indignation.

More and more hospitals are making the flu shot mandatory. Seasoned nurses are being threatened to lose their jobs if they do not take it or they are forced to wear a mask while doing patient care for the entire flu season. Is this a violation of HIPPA. Patients will know that that nurse has not had a flu shot when they see the mask. Do you think that the flu shot should be mandatory or should nurses have the right to refuse just like the patients have a right to refuse?

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

I also have just noticed that you are new to AN. If you'd care to a little searching, you'll see that this topic has been discussed, in depth, many times before.

To save you the trouble of starting another thread, so has ADN vs BSN, nurses eating their young and many others :)

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Feb 5, 2015

Kind of like when OSHA was first unleashed :yes:

I continue to be amazed at the lack of understanding about what HIPAA is and exactly whom it is intended to protect.