Please get your health reuirements taken care of before school starts aka my long day

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Specializes in Mostly geri :).

I'll share my story in hopes of keeping someone else from being as dumb as I was. My nursing school gave us a medical form on the 25th, I didn't start anything I needed to fullfil until yesterday(idiot). My MMR vaccine was given in a closed hospital-so they have no record, by a doctor who is now dead-so he has no record....I was taken there at the tender age of eleven by my grandmother-also dead now and has no record. So, onto the school system I go...surely, they have a record.....but no-not at any of my schools or at the school district. They went computerized a few years ago-so everyone that needs records from before 2006 or so is out of luck. So did the city health department. :banghead:So I call the health dept.-I was told they have the cheapest vaccines.....the receptionist was unable to answer my medical questions, refused to connect me to someone who could unless I scheduled an appt. So I did, the nurse only holds shot clinics twice a month.....since my MMR is nowhere to be found they said I'd need two...to be given 28 days apart. After the two step TB waaaay past my school's deadline. Their varicella vaccine is two shots given six weeks apart. So that would have done me in. Refusing to give up, I went to an Urgent care that believed me about the MMR, happily marked the initial vaccine done 13 years ago on my physical sheet, and THEY have a varicalla vaccine that's one shot....and my school physical form says varicella vaccine-singular, not plural. They were also a bit cheaper. Please don't be dumb like me....get this stuff done early. It can be a difficult process.

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If you are not able to get your immunization records you can have titers drawn. It is a simple blood draw and can get you all the info you will need in a jiff...at least for me. I spent 10 minutes at the doctor and had my results back within the week for my childhood immunizations, hep, and tdap

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Specializes in Mostly geri :).

Yeah, that'd work if I was a responsible human being......but I'm an idiot and never get sick so I don't have insurance and I was given a quote of $230 a titer.....and my last Hep B titer was negative. Sure I could use the pperwork from when I had the series done at a place of employment...but they're refusing to release it to me. Sorry to rant, once the chocolate swirl ice cream with chocolate chunks is delivered by a dear friend I'll be far more pleasant lol.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Man they sure gave you short notice, the immunization info all nursing students must have before starting is on our schools website and when I got my acceptance letter back in Feb it was also stated on there. Have also got reminder emails.

My first day was last monday and a girl was dismissed from the program for not having her stuff either :( Those of us starting this semester have been waiting for 3+ years.

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Specializes in Mostly geri :).

3 years???? OMG youre waaay more patient than me. Is it a BSN program? ASN? I'm glad youre finally starting. At my school we have until October 15th to turn in our stuff, class starts mid-November....So that's just under two months from receiving acceptance....can't complain, its a great school with no waiting list.

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Just my two cents but...in the first few weeks of school you will learn that preserving health is very important(ie. getting regular check-ups)! If you can afford it, join the schools insurance, you never know when you are going to need it (like now!)

Good luck with everything!

Yeah, that'd work if I was a responsible human being......but I'm an idiot and never get sick so I don't have insurance and I was given a quote of $230 a titer.....and my last Hep B titer was negative. Sure I could use the pperwork from when I had the series done at a place of employment...but they're refusing to release it to me. Sorry to rant, once the chocolate swirl ice cream with chocolate chunks is delivered by a dear friend I'll be far more pleasant lol.
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You should try your local health department, my insurance expired right before I entered nursing school (go figure). With the economy being so bent out of shape it wasn't that difficult to find a clinic to give me the vaccines for free shop around because every facility I called had a different price. There are also some clinics that are affiliated w/ colleges and universities (of course they don't advertise it). My friend attends the local community college & recommended the place she got her titers drawn from & it only cost me $80 & I was all clear, but I was quoted the same as u around $200. BTW I am not sure if u mentioned this, but supposedly you can't have ur TB & MMR done @ the same time. I am not sure of the exact stipulations, but this happened to me I had to wait an extra month to have my MMR because the person @ the clinic didn't check to see if I had my TB done. We live in order to learn, Good Luck

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
3 years???? OMG youre waaay more patient than me. Is it a BSN program? ASN? I'm glad youre finally starting. At my school we have until October 15th to turn in our stuff, class starts mid-November....So that's just under two months from receiving acceptance....can't complain, its a great school with no waiting list.

I waited a total of 3.5 years from the time I submitted my app to my start day. It's for an ADN which is same as ASN it actually worked out well waiting so long for me. I got all co reqs done and had a baby and now she is 2.5 so better age for day care and so on.

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Our health requirements are sent out about 3 weeks before they are due. Also keep your records becuse the facility that you eventually work at may need the info as well.:twocents:

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Our health requirements are sent out about 3 weeks before they are due. Also keep your records becuse the facility that you eventually work at may need the info as well.

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Specializes in Mostly geri :).
Just my two cents but...in the first few weeks of school you will learn that preserving health is very important(ie. getting regular check-ups)! If you can afford it, join the schools insurance, you never know when you are going to need it (like now!)

Good luck with everything!

Oh God, I forgot were supposed to have that for school as well.........mine shouldn't be too bad, I have no pre-existing conditions. Thanks for reminding me......I mean, I doubt I'll need it, but I'd hate to get in trouble over it.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Like the other poster stated, SAVE COPIES. One of my instructors is getting her masters and she said she can't tell you how many times she has had to submit the same info over and over again (immunization stuff) and advised us to save a copy of everything for ourselves in case we need again later on we can make more copies.

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