No flu vax=mask? Reno

[heyliss]

Hello all! I am a brand new nursing student in Reno. I was told yesterday that I will be required to wear a mask to clinicals due to my inability to receive a flu vaccine (history of Guillain Barre). I have concerns for my future as a nurse. Are RNs who don't receive the flu vaccine required to wear a mask at work at the facilities in the area? Might this impede my ability to find work in the future? Thanks!

[Lrome11]

I work in CA and that has become a rule for us RNs since last year. I work in home health and either take vaccination or wear mask I don't see that it wld affect your ability to find work but most likely u will have to wear a mask.

[montecarlo64, ASN, BSN, LPN]

I live in Indiana and I had to wear a mask during flu season. I do not take a flu shot by personal choice, I don't like to introduce foreign substance into my body. And, (as I knock on wood) I rarely ever get sick. I have been a nurse for 20 years. This was the first time I was ever required to either wear the mask or take the shot. Some hospitals, I hear, suspend the nurse until after flu season. Anyway, I just wore the mask. It did make my face break out (a line where the mask rides on the cheeks and nose) with a little bit of acne, but it was kind of nice to have the mask on when all of my co-workers (who got the flu shot) were sick! You have a legitimate reason to NOT take the vaccine, so I would not worry about it. Wearing the mask is not the most unpleasant thing you will experience. Good luck:)

[heyliss]

Thank you. I think at first I was very nervous and frustrated considering the possibility of having to wear a mask throughout my future career... But I really, REALLY want this. I am willing to do it if necessary. I suppose I didn't consider that I might get sick less in general. :) And hey, when I'm on my peds rotation in school I can draw smileys on my mask and get a little laugh. :)

[kyzur]

It is a myth that the mask helps keep you from getting sick. The mask helps filter YOUR exhaled bugs. The bugs in air form others will still get in your eyes, on your hands then to wherever you touch yourself, and even past mask as any construction worker or painter will tell you the cheap filter masks let dust in around the edge. The reason hospitals want people to wear them is for patient confidence and it is a fact that if you take 1000 people who dont get vac and 1000 who do, those who get flu will be drastically higher in non vac group. SO the idea is without vac you are more likely to get flu, more likely to be carrying it, and less likely to transmit it if you are wearing a mask. It wont prevent you form catching it and there is no data to suggest it does. There are many reasons to not get a vaccine but I wanted to clear up some of the thought process on hospital side and the myth that a mask protects you. It protects others form you.