At War With Ourselves

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

 "I’ve never had much trouble getting along with others, even those who I may disagree with.  But lately, just being able to converse with some people is a struggle."

Well written article. You expressed my thoughts exactly! Thank you for writing it! I too am a very tolerant person in the workplace but recently I left a position. I couldn't take all of the anti-vax, anti-mask, political (not to mention racist) rhetoric. Please don't drone on and on at work where you have a captive audience. There are a lot of jobs out there and my time is too precious to waste listening to the whining!

[RNWCCCM, RN]

Thank you, Kathy Day!

I, too, agree with you 100%. I have 44 years in nursing in many different areas and don't get a lot of things going on in the nursing profession now. But I really don't get nurses quitting their jobs over the Covid vaccination.

I remember standing in line at the local drug store to get the sugar cube with the Polio vaccine on it. Thank heavens we had that and the other vaccines. Do you remember the iron lung? How scary looking was that? The ventilator scares me just as much.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

If I could give 10 likes, I would.  Very well spoken and I’m in total agreement.

As a Pediatric nurse for 40 years, and still working full time in a clinic setting now, I have seen many babies hospitalized for pertussis, and other preventable diseases.  Some too young to be fully vaccinated, but obviously contracted diseases from someone who could have been vaccinated but wasn’t.  These were PICU settings.  I would think, seeing these babies and their parents suffering would convince anyone of the importance of vaccines.  Maybe someone refusing Covid vaccine should spend a day in the ICU with a Covid infected patient. 
(BTW…I know this is not a practical or ethical thing to do…just saying it would give some perspective.)

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Agree 100% with these comments.  Add me to the sugar cube Polio receivers --- standing in line with my Grandmother at HS one block from her home in the 60's;  had many of common childhood illnesses then as vaccines not developed for another 25 yrs.  Brother almost died from measles; best friends sister did die from it as swept through our elementary school.

I started in healthcare in 1973 as night shift aide in a hometown nursing home so have seen much success due to kids  and adult vaccinations.   Focus on eradicating communicable disease strong growing up; so sad denied today resulting in over 775,000 US COVID deaths by today --most on Earth!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

I got vaccinated, I'll take the booster when it comes. Given the reliabilty of the government and CDC through COVID I think anyone could be excused for wanting to make their own decisions. The vaccine is still in clinical trials...if I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot slower to get vaxed. Wanting to wait a year ( or more) to see how things shake out isn't unreasonable.

What I've seen on these boards, the all or nothing holy roller preaching is embarassing. We have to respect different cultures, (that includes other nurses) Sometimes the more you promote  something, the more people don't want to do it.

[toomuchbaloney]

5 hours ago, canoehead said:

I got vaccinated, I'll take the booster when it comes. Given the reliabilty of the government and CDC through COVID I think anyone could be excused for wanting to make their own decisions. The vaccine is still in clinical trials...if I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot slower to get vaxed. Wanting to wait a year ( or more) to see how things shake out isn't unreasonable.

What I've seen on these boards, the all or nothing holy roller preaching is embarassing. We have to respect different cultures, (that includes other nurses) Sometimes the more you promote  something, the more people don't want to do it.

Which vaccine is still in clinical trials? What is unreliable about the CDC and the government and who should Americans trust instead? We are in a pandemic, waiting a year to vaccinate when there's a global health emergency isn't "reasonable", I would call that refusal in the face of overwhelming evidence of the safety and efficacy "unreasonable".

Why are you embarrassed by nursing professionals consistently promoting correct public health policy and recommendations? Why exactly are we supposed to respect the antivaxx  "culture"? Is there some evidence that they respect our "culture"?

[T-Bird78]

Yes.  I’m in my early 40’s so I wasn’t around for polio, but I can attest to all the other things in this article. People in general have changed. I’ve been doing this 14 years, 13 in the same speciality, and have never had the insults, arguments, rudeness, and telephone hang ups like I’ve had since March 2020. Yeah, there’d be the occasional pt get mad because the doc wouldn’t write for antibiotics when we hadn’t seen the pt in 2 years and pt called in with vague sx, but I’ve never been called a damn idiot followed by the *click* of the phone hitting the receiver. And coworkers have changed too. I’m the clinical lead, most senior employee, and LPN over the MAs, yet I had one MA tell me to shut up and stop telling her how to do her job (I wrote the protocol for the particular task she was referencing) because I didn’t know how to do my own job (this task is one she has never done and I do the preliminary research on it); another MA yelled at me because I didn’t clear off a counter to make room for a new coworker, and when I reminded her I was working with the physician while she was not, she told me “well, it’s not like you do anything anyway.”  I’m shocked and appalled and heartbroken over the attitudes from pts and coworkers.  We have a vaccine mandate and all my coworkers have gotten it, but there’s still arguments from a few about how it’s fake and all a government control tactic. Some people just can’t be reasoned with. I’m applying to schools for an online coding program to get out of direct pt healthcare. 

[toomuchbaloney]

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

― Isaac Asimov

[MaxAttack, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, canoehead said:

I got vaccinated, I'll take the booster when it comes. Given the reliabilty of the government and CDC through COVID I think anyone could be excused for wanting to make their own decisions. The vaccine is still in clinical trials...if I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot slower to get vaxed. Wanting to wait a year ( or more) to see how things shake out isn't unreasonable.

What I've seen on these boards, the all or nothing holy roller preaching is embarassing. We have to respect different cultures, (that includes other nurses) Sometimes the more you promote  something, the more people don't want to do it.

Referring to those that would risk the lives of others by spreading fear and misinformation as having a specific "culture" is laughable.

It's the doubt that they spread that makes otherwise rational people question the risk of blood clots from a vaccine (from a single manufacturer if I'm not mistaken) while ignoring the greater risks from the virus it protects against. Same with the reports of myocarditis - the risk of a mild self-limiting course vs heart failure and death. It's just another tactic to look at the vaccine in an isolated bubble and make it appear as dangerous as possible.

We have approved vaccines that have been used in millions of people. I don't believe in mandates for the general public but for healthcare workers absolutely. I'm want nothing to do with placing patients and co-workers at risk while someone waits for an arbitrary timeline to pass or "enough" evidence is gathered.

 

tl;Dr - I have zero respect for people that risk the lives of others through scare tactics and misinformation. If that's considered holier-than-thou, so be it. I'm here to save lives, not to put up with conspiracy theorists, entertainers, and talk show hosts that think a mic is equivalent to expertise.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

11 hours ago, canoehead said:

Wanting to wait a year ( or more) to see how things shake out isn't unreasonable.

Yes it is. It is the definition of unreasonable ("not governed by or acting according to reason" -Merriam-Webster). 

If I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot more concerned about getting covid than I would be about any of the covid vaccines. Because I am reasonable. 

 

 

 

 

 

[JKL33]

On 11/12/2021 at 1:45 PM, BostonFNP said:

If I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot more concerned about getting covid than I would be about any of the covid vaccines.

This. And nearly all the other effects people give as reasons they don't want to get the vaccine.

[SmilingBluEyes]

On 11/12/2021 at 1:28 AM, canoehead said:

I got vaccinated, I'll take the booster when it comes. Given the reliabilty of the government and CDC through COVID I think anyone could be excused for wanting to make their own decisions. The vaccine is still in clinical trials...if I had a history of blood clots, I'd be a lot slower to get vaxed. Wanting to wait a year ( or more) to see how things shake out isn't unreasonable.

What I've seen on these boards, the all or nothing holy roller preaching is embarassing. We have to respect different cultures, (that includes other nurses) Sometimes the more you promote  something, the more people don't want to do it.

It's all or nothing because many of us have EVERYTHING to lose. I have very vulnerable loved ones and patients who need me (and the rest of us) to be vaccinated. This is a rather unprecedented situation with this pandemic. 3/4 of a million in this country, alone,  are dead and can't speak for themselves any longer. So we do.

Mandates work!