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.
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.
Required vaccines vary from state to state, so it really depends on the OP's location. Hep B is required in my state. Check with your state vaccine requirements (call your local health dept. to find out or google it). There should also be information about exemptions (I don't think all states allow the religious/philo. exemption).
Aneroo, LPN
1,518 Posts
Required vaccines vary from state to state, so it really depends on the OP's location. Hep B is required in my state. Check with your state vaccine requirements (call your local health dept. to find out or google it). There should also be information about exemptions (I don't think all states allow the religious/philo. exemption).