I never thought about this until tonight, and then realized this could be a deciding factor in whether I accept a job or not... I have been offered a position in a Med/Tele unit in our county teaching hospital. It's a great place to work.. Magnet status, etc. However, our clientele is a lot of illegal immigrants, homeless, underserved population.. Which means most are probably not vaccinated against harmful diseases.
I have a 9 month old baby who is on a delayed vaccine schedule, and will only be receiving select vaccines against the most serious things, due to reactions she had to certain shots, and because of our own beliefs & comfort level with vaccines. I'm worried that if I'm working in an environment and with a population like this where I'm constantly exposed to serious illnesses and disease... can I bring these home with my and expose my baby as well?? Even though I'm vaccinated, I assume I could still carry something home that my antibodies are fighting off.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not see any "interrogation" or "bashing" here.
You verbalize that you choose to not vaccinate your child completely or delay it for whatever reason, yet worry about yourself picking up diseases that affect your child from others that unvaccinated, again for whatever reason. This was pointed out ...as it should be, as a risk issue. And bring it up as an issue to be worried about for your health, for your child's health, your coworkers health, and for your patients' health
The posters here have given you the common sense answers regarding hygiene and the fact that you are probably exposed to as much or more germs from the general public in daily life.
I have seen no hostility or meaness, merely common sense. Could you kindly point out where someone "questioned your parenting skills". I have seen no comment on parenting skills...but might have missed it.
Many other posters have given some great commonsense ideas to reduce the transmission risk. I have a son who at various times of his life has been immunocompromised - I always took my shoes off outside, stripped as I went to the laundry room and showered immediately. Never brought anything home.
It is your business what you do with your child as to vaccinations and I would not criticize your personal decisions.
"However, our clientele is a lot of illegal immigrants, homeless, underserved population.. Which means most are probably not vaccinated against harmful diseases." Not necessarily.
At any rate - good luck with your job and I think you have some good advice.
And what about all the diseases that your child/ren have that you will be carting in to the vulnerable patients? Are you not concerned about them?
Virtually all departments of nursing have exposure to diseases that be carried home. But in M/S you know what they are. When you go to the grocery store, you are around the exact same people, some of whom also do not vaccinate their children per their beliefs or per medical issues..Do you not worry about that, also?
I remove my uniform either at work or when I just get in the door and put them in he laundry. My shoes stay at the door and get disinfected. I usually bath or thoroughly disinfect my hands/arms then. I also use good hand hygeine before leaving work.
FYI just because someone is unvaccinated does not make them a disease carrier.
You don't vaccinate your baby, then worry about her getting the disease? Vaccines protect against diseases, although they do carry some risk. I too delayed the Hep B til they were teenagers, and caught flack from it. I also showered upon arrival home, and put my uniform in the washer on the way to the shower.
But realize too, that if there is a case of measles, chickenpox, pertussis or any other disease that you did not immunize for, that he/she will have to stay home from school until the outbreak is over. I've seen kids have to stay home as long as 8 weeks. And if she/he decides to travel overseas, getting the vaccines as an adult can be rough.
..
i am not the OP, but i certainly felt the negativity in several responses, especially the one quoted above.....the OP state specifically that her child had had reactions, and that she was on a delayed sched....not that she WOULDNT be vacinated....i thought she was being very responsible and proactive.....in asking
I agree. Vaccines do protect against diseases BUT they do have a significant risk. It's up to the parents to read the literature and decide which way they feel is safest for their child. No parent who has done their homework should be belittled or shamed because their decision wasn't the mainstream decision. If the medical industry has such a problem with parents not vaccinating then do more to make them safer. I'll stop now because I need to walk my kids to school and don't have time to haul out the soapbox this morning.
correct me if i am wrong, but i do not see any "interrogation" or "bashing" here.
you verbalize that you choose to not vaccinate your child completely or delay it for whatever reason, yet worry about yourself picking up diseases that affect your child from others that unvaccinated, again for whatever reason. this was pointed out ...as it should be, as a risk issue. and bring it up as an issue to be worried about for your health, for your child's health, your coworkers health, and for your patients' health
the posters here have given you the common sense answers regarding hygiene and the fact that you are probably exposed to as much or more germs from the general public in daily life.
i have seen no hostility or meaness, merely common sense. could you kindly point out where someone "questioned your parenting skills". i have seen no comment on parenting skills...but might have missed it.
:yeahthat::yeahthat::yeahthat:
sorry, but your question is a bit like "how do i keep my child safe while we are driving and btw we think corificeats are too dangerous to use in case the car erupts into flames..."
I've been in nursing 40 years and had two sons now grown. No one in the family ever got any illness I could contribute to my work. The only problem I see that might be more prevalent in the population you describe is TB. So if I had a patient coughing all over the place without regard for others I'd get me a mask and use it every time I had contact with that patient. Otherwise I think you are good to go. I agree with getting out of work clothes asap. If it is flu season, you could pick that up anywhere.
FYI just because someone is unvaccinated does not make them a disease carrier.
And just because someone is homeless, an immigrant (legal or illegal), or poor does not make them a disease carrier.
It does mean that their risk of getting and passing on some illnesses is higher, just as does the delayed/unvaccinated status of the OP's child.
If the OP is worried about bringing things home to his/her child, s/he should be conversely concerned about what she takes to work to patients from home, especially if the OP use daycare or go out in public.
And just because someone is homeless, an immigrant (legal or illegal), or poor does not make them a disease carrier.
It does mean that their risk of getting and passing on some illnesses is higher, just as does the delayed/unvaccinated status of the OP's child.
If the OP is worried about bringing things home to his/her child, s/he should be conversely concerned about what she takes to work to patients from home, especially if the OP use daycare or go out in public.
Oh I totally agree with you on the first part. The risk between the two unvax'ed groups is higher which is why the OP is concerned. However, the risk of her child passing things onto others who are vaccinated should really be nil if vaccines really do what they say they do. If not then what's the point in getting them?
When I worked at the grocery store pharmacy, people would ask us all the time, "How do you stay healthy, being around sick people all day?" I told them, "We probably aren't exposed to any more disease than anybody else; we just know we are."
I once worked in a city that had a large immigrant population that had a high incidence of TB, some of it multi drug resistant, and that scares me more than the really obvious diseases.
Hi, I worked for 11 years on an AIDS unit with pts who had vre, mrsa, polydrug resistant tb, klebsiella, pseudomonas, staph, strep, as well as the arcane bugs that hit only immune compromised pts. Never brought anything home ... and never went thru the elaborate cleaning rituals some other posters describe ... just normal daily hygiene.
Universal precautions are pretty effective ... use 'em.
I want to second the remarks above re assuming that immigrants are diseased ... what's immigration status got to do with immune systems or disease exposure??? They're more likely to catch something scary here in the US, given our overuse of antibiotics, seems to me.
In any case, it's the infections you don't know about that'll hurt you ... and you can come across those anywhere.
caroladybelle, BSN, RN
5,486 Posts
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not see any "interrogation" or "bashing" here.
You verbalize that you choose to not vaccinate your child completely or delay it for whatever reason, yet worry about yourself picking up diseases that affect your child from others that unvaccinated, again for whatever reason. This was pointed out ...as it should be, as a risk issue. And bring it up as an issue to be worried about for your health, for your child's health, your coworkers health, and for your patients' health
The posters here have given you the common sense answers regarding hygiene and the fact that you are probably exposed to as much or more germs from the general public in daily life.
I have seen no hostility or meaness, merely common sense. Could you kindly point out where someone "questioned your parenting skills". I have seen no comment on parenting skills...but might have missed it.