Fired for refusing??

[Indyrn00]

Thoughts on employer mandatory Flu vaccine...

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

travel/temp nursing. flu shots are mandatory during flu season (Oct- end of March). Work half the year doing travel or local temp assignments, and depending on your lifestyle, budget needs, other skills, etc. either take the winter off and spend it working on other things that are important to you, or do other types of work.

my first winter as a nurse i worked full time and the facility didn't require flu shots, i just signed a form stating i don't consume animal-derived products (i.e. eggs) and no one gave me a hard time. since then i've spent a winter in southern Italy, and two flu seasons bartending at a ski lodge in Park City (which paid as much as my nursing gigs).

everyone wins. the melodramatic pearl-clutchers are happy that i'm not infecting their patients with a seasonal flu that i've only had twice in my life and never as an adult, and i win because i don't allow a corporation to force me into violating my beliefs, and i get to have fun and sometimes well-paying adventures.

avoid nursing during flu season entirely, and remain in control of what goes into your body, if that is important to you.

Wow, yes the melodramatic people that hate for their healthcare professionals to not endanger the lives of the patients that they are supposed to be protecting that is really being melodramatic.

[ceccia]

Wow, yes the melodramatic people that hate for their healthcare professionals to not endanger the lives of the patients that they are supposed to be protecting that is really being melodramatic.

thanks for the compliment. i love it when people pick one word out of a post and start a rant about it because they really can't argue with the rest of it. :)

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

thanks for the compliment. i love it when people pick one word out of a post and start a rant about it because they really can't argue with the rest of it. :)

I love it when people are so ignorant of a subject they choose to give inappropriate advice based on opinion versus fact and then call themselves a healthcare professional.

[misshelly]

I can see your sources reflecting a governmental bias . . . that tells me alot

[misshelly]

Again, I will say . . . I can see by your mainstream and governmental sources how the bias flows. Don't buy into the propoganda!

[sharpeimom]

In that sense, you are also "forced" to:

come me to work regularly, even if it's snowy, cold, or rainy

smile and be polite to your patients

practice good hygiene and wear clean clothes

refrain from swearing

not come to work with a swastika tattooed on your forehead, or on any other visible area.

pay union dues if that's part of the deal

practice good hand hygiene

answer call lights

reduce pain and suffering

get along with your coworkers

.

pay the government every two years for a license to continue doing the job you are already doing.

Heck! If I'll be held to all those things on the list.....forget it! Be a responsible civilized Adult?

[sharpeimom]

Now for a more serious answer.

I have been proven to have a life threatening reaction to virtually all flu vaccines. I got a flu shot for years, then the vaccine was changed to prevent more types of flu. That year I landed in ICU and was told to never get another flu injection --Never!

I continued to receive every other required or necessary for safe travel to a third world country injection, just no flu shot. TB meds and typhoid meds necessary to keep me safe when we traveled, but absolutely no flu vaccine.

People with life threatening allergic reactions like I have depend on people who aren't allergic to help keep us safe and disease free in much the same way not giving a child with a peanut allergy a pb &j sandwich much safer when she visits. Herd immunity.

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

Again, I will say . . . I can see by your mainstream and governmental sources how the bias flows. Don't buy into the propoganda!

You got to hate people that use peer reviewed scientific evidence to base their practice and pt care on instead conspiracy theories without scientific basis....

[lamazeteacher]

I would prefer a more positive way of dealing with those who refuse to be vaccinated.

A reading list of reasons for being vaccinated, directed at most educational levels, might deal with those with "I don't believe in it" or "you get the flu by being vaccinated", and reasons why vaccines for flu change yearly, for those who say "I got it last year, and it didn't work", reasons for refusing vaccines.

Offering an EMLA patch or nasal inhalation when that's appropriate, will take care of the phobic shot refusers...

a lot of damage has been done through not acknowledging infants' and children's aversion to pain.

it's not wise to take punitive action alone, against refusers, as distrust in administration becomes more rampant; and self fulfilling prophesies abound and waste a lot if time. Also those who become angry, spread misinformation. Staff turnover is quite costly, too.

[T-Bird78]

I work in an allergy/asthma clinic. We were all strongly encouraged to get the flu shot this year, clinical and front office staff, and if you didn't then you couldn't call out if you did get the flu. Well, you'd call out but couldn't use sick days for it because you refused the chief protection against it.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we all have to get the hepatitis vaccine for nursing school or employment?

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

I would prefer a more positive way of dealing with those who refuse to be vaccinated.

A reading list of reasons for being vaccinated, directed at most educational levels, might deal with those with "I don't believe in it" or "you get the flu by being vaccinated", and reasons why vaccines for flu change yearly, for those who say "I got it last year, and it didn't work", reasons for refusing vaccines.

Offering an EMLA patch or nasal inhalation when that's appropriate, will take care of the phobic shot refusers...

a lot of damage has been done through not acknowledging infants' and children's aversion to pain.

it's not wise to take punitive action alone, against refusers, as distrust in administration becomes more rampant; and self fulfilling prophesies abound and waste a lot if time. Also those who become angry, spread misinformation. Staff turnover is quite costly, too.

There are several studies that have used increased educational level and incentives to increase the vaccination levels in healthcare facilities. All of those techniques only had very modest increases in vaccination levels, but so far manadatory vaccinations have been the only method shown to increase vaccination levels significantly.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I totally agree. We were mandated on the flu shot, and recently, they've started mandating a booster for TDAP.

You mean an extra Tdap? Or just make sure you've had a Tdap?