Nursing School/Vaccines... Not sure what to do...

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to get some insight and this seems like a great place to get it. I am currently finishing up law school and I am thinking about getting my ASN after I am done with law school. I guess I need to explain the sudden career shift. Right before I began law school I was diagnosed with a fairly treatable cancer. I had to defer my law school for a year while I underwent treatments. I have been in remission for 4 years. After that experience, my priorities completely changed but I continued on to law school because at the time I was not sure what else to do.

During my law school career I became disenchanted with someday becoming a member of this profession. Every law student dreams about changing the world and helping people, yet lawyers are often someone's worst nightmare. My father is a doctor and my brother is in medical school and they are very supportive of the fact that I am considering going into nursing. I had so many compassionate nurses during my stay in the hospital and I believe that I have a huge amount of sympathy for others that can only come from personal pain.

The problem is how I found out I had cancer. I went in to get my Hepatitis vaccine. The injection was given on my right arm. The next morning I woke up with an enlarged lymph node on the right side of my neck. My dad actually did the Fine Needle Biposy of the node in my parents bathroom that day because he was so worried (don't worry he is a Pathologist so he knew how to do it). Anyways the rest is history...diagnosed with IIA Hodgkins with a 97% chance of cure and I have been fine ever since. The problem is with the vaccines. I have no problem with vaccines and my future children will be first in line to get theirs. I also am aware that there are no studies or literature that shows a causal link to cancer. That said, even my father is hessitant that I may have some sort of weird immune response to these vaccines and does not think that it is worth it to experiemnt now, unless a vaccination is absolutely imperative.

My question is whether this inability/unwillingness to get vaccines will completely prevent me from becoming a nurse. I know my oncologist would write a medical exemption for the vaccine requirement for nursing school. I am concerned though that not having certain vaccines would put me at risk in a hospital setting or prevent me from finding a job. I was wondering if anyone would recommend a certain area of nursing that may be a little safer for me once I get some experience under my belt.

Thank you in advance for your responses. I woudl appreciate any honest (even if it isn't what you think I want to hear) input that you have.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I am not sure about the shots, I am an elementary school nurse and we accept medical exemptions but I have no idea about colleges. It probably varies by state and whether the school is public or private.

As far as low risk areas of nursing, with your legal background you could do great things as a Legal Nurse Consultant, if you are interested in that type of work. You would probably need some nursing experience under your belt, though. Good luck in whatever you decide!

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

You should have no problem either getting a medical waiver (your dad might be able to provide this for you or your family doc or your oncology doc) and in a lot of states a philosophical waiver (that is what I do). I would also be very weary of vaccines causing you some sort of reaction in the future. I don't think I would want to take the chance. The Hep B vaccine is not required by schools or hospitals, you should be able to sign a waiver easily for that one. I just signed one the other day actually for my new job.

The only thing that any school or hospital will require is proof of immunity to MMR diseases and chickenpox....you can have a blood titer drawn to show immunity (cheap and easy). I had chickenpox as a kid so I'm immune to that and I had the MMR shots as a child so all my blood work and paper work showed immunity.

I think with your law degree and nursing, you could do such awesome work! Look into legal nursing or something like that.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Purple scrubs hit it ight on the head. As far as a career in nursing, you won't be required to take any spacial vaccines to get a job - i mean if you were travel nursing and going on missionary jobs in third world countries, then that'd be one thing but given the history you've given us, i somehow don't see you striving for that. As fas as nursing school goes - a medical exemption is perfectly permissible in these types of situations. Have your doc write you a letter of medical exemption for any vaccines that you may need. Though to be honest, i remember only having to give an immunization record - not get any new vaccines when i went to NS.

As far as low risk type of job - Purple scrubs hit it right on the head. Your background in law would make it super easy for you to transition into a legal nursing rol eonce you have a bit of floor experience to back up a medical opinion.

Good luck!

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I'm a first year nursing student in an ADN program in Michigan. We were REQUIRED to have our MMR vaccines and show titers proving that they were still effective, and REQUIRED to get a TB test and physical. As for the Hep B Vaccine, we could either get vaccinated, or sign a release opting out and acknowledging the risks of exposure in a healthcare setting. The release form didn't have to be signed by a doctor or anything, just you. Getting vaccinated is your choice. and i JUST realized I'm due for the 3rd in the series this month! thanks for reminding me, i need to go make an appt now!

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At our school you can opt out of the hep b shot but the rest are mandatory. best of luck too you.

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So at some of your schools if I didn't have immunity to certain things and did not want to get a vaccine I would not be able to become a nurse? Someone told me vaccines are legally required for health care professionals now with no exemptions. From some of your comments this seems true.

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yes, but most of the required ones you have had unless your parents chose not to vaccinate you as a child. A tb test is not a vaccine.... but that does have to be done yearly and they do have an alternative test that is a huge hassle but tehre is NO way around being a health care professional and being screened for tb

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Specializes in School Nursing.
So at some of your schools if I didn't have immunity to certain things and did not want to get a vaccine I would not be able to become a nurse? Someone told me vaccines are legally required for health care professionals now with no exemptions. From some of your comments this seems true.

If you want to be 100% sure, call the nursing schools in your state and call the HR departments of some of the hospitals. I am quite sure it varies by state, because in Texas Hep B was required, and some of the above posters indicated it was optional in their state. You can certainly ask if this is the case in your state.

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Okay. I think I will contact some of the schools I am thinking about applying to. I was vaccinated as a child and had my boosters. I received chemotherapy though and that supposedly can knock out your immunity to things you have had or have been vaccinated for. I can certainly check and get tested to see if those are still okay.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I know you can use a religious exemption.

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Where I live (AZ) the cost of the titer is nearly 300 dollars! Does anyone know where to get them less expensively?

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