Immunizations & nursing school

[determined09]

Hello All,

I need some advice on the approach I should take regarding a controversial topic. I am currently in the process of applying to nursing school & have never received immunizations because of personal reasons. I recently emailed my advisor about the issue and asked to receive declination forms to sign. She stated that nursing students are required to have current and updated immunizations and that hospitals have the right to deny me clinical rotation in their facility. My concern is that this cannot possibly be correct. Entering a hospital with no immunization history is my own personal risk. If I get sick, that is my problem. Also, there has to be a doctor or nurse in the entire country who has refused immunizations. Why did the college of nursing not contact me when I entered the university & listed my major as nursing? I am pretty devastated to say the least & am scared that I may have to withdraw my application or this issue with put a "red x" by my name. Does anyone have any feedback on this issue?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Again, while the risk may be certain, acquiring an actual disease is far from it. I would much rather risk exposure, knowing that there is much that I can do to successfully prevent disease, and trust my body to do it's job of fighting the disease, if actually acquired, than take the risk of actually putting know harmful substances in my body.

That would be fine if you were the only person who was being put at risk. If you would like risk exposure rather than get a vaccine, that's you're choice and I don't have a problem with it. The difference with the OP, and any health care provider, is that your patients are also at risk. If you, God forbid, are exposed to a disease like measles or whooping cough there might be a several day period where you don't know you are sick. Maybe your body can fight it off, but what about the newborn babies you take care of at work? What about the cancer and AIDS patients with compromised immune systems? Their bodies can't fight the disease.

So if you don't want to get vaccinated, that is a personal choice. But don't choose a career where you risk exposing sick people to the disease as well.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Besides, if you don't think that you can actually prevent acquiring a highly contagious disease by using proper precautions, and that acquiring a highly contagious disease is inevitable , then precautions become unnecessary.

You aren't just at risk of disease exposure in the hospital. You are at risk in the community as well, and probably even more so. The door handle at the restaurant, the check out line at Wal-Mart, the safety instructions on the airplane, the child selling lemonade, all of those and infinitely more carry the risk of possible exposure to a disease. Even something as seemingly harmless as the flu can kill a frail elderly person. You're not telling me you sanitize your hands after everything you touch? Or walk around in gown and gloves?

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

This is just a ridiculous statement. You would have to claim that every single person who ever got/gets a vaccination will die for it to have any validity. It's attitudes like this that make it impossible to have a serious, professional discussion on this topic.

Because your position is so ludicrous, most of us, being reasonably intelligent individuals, find it very hard to take seriously.

[BonewaxRN]

I do use hand sanitizer after going to crowded areas or using public facilities. And no, I don't go around gowned and gloved, because I get my flu shots and therefore am not a potential reservoir for the strains most likely to be going around. There's always a chance that they predicted the wrong ones and therefore it won't be effective, but at least I did my best to avoid spreading contagion. Patients depend upon us to not make them sicker.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Grocery stores here have antiseptic wipes at the door to wipe off the handles of shopping carts, which I do religiously. I also wash my hands all the time. That's just as a private citizen.

Of course you follow Universal Precautions in the hospital.

However, I still got a cold 3 weeks ago. No shot yet for the common cold.

I have not gotten pertussis, which is on the rise. Because I'm immunized. Therefore I won't pass it on to an infant or elderly person or person with lowered immunity.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

"hospitals have the right to deny me clinical rotation in their facility. my concern is that this cannot possibly be correct. entering a hospital with no immunization history is my own personal risk. if i get sick, that is my problem."

guess what? it's not all about you. if you are not immunized (or don't have adequate titers-- you might anyway, you might have already had a subclinical case of measles, for example-- get tested to find out) you could be carrying a preventable communicable disease into a facility where people are at high risk for injury because of it.

immunizations are important for the public good. would you counsel your patients not to be immunized, too? no? yes??

so you want to be a nurse? do what you have to do to decrease the chance that you would be a risk to someone else. time to put on your big-girl panties and decide.