Pre-Nursing school immunization catastrophe!

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I want other people to know what happened to me, so the same does not happen for them!

When I received my nursing school admission, [of course] there was a long list of immunizations that I had to obtain before school started. I am 38 years old, so who knows where my shot records are from when I was a child, and I wasn't going to pay for the titers so I went to my local health department and sat down with a nurse, showed her my list of shots, and we came up with a plan to get them all done.

I couldn't get all the shots at once because of cost and because some of the shots had to have multiple shots spread out over 28 days. The first day I received some of my shots and left with a calendar of when I was to get the rest of them.

Long story short is the nurse messed up. I went to get my (first) TB test yesterday and a different nurse told me that it was too close to my recent MMR. In to get the two TB tests and my second MMR, I would have taken me past the deadline to have everything done. My school has a zero tolerance for late items. The advisor at my school told me I would have to give up my spot in the program :cry:.

We came up with an alternative, for me to get a chest X-ray (ILO the TB test itself). I don't have insurance so this is an expensive option, but I don't have any other choice.

I should have been more educated about my program requirements - I don't blame anyone but myself; hopefully, I can share my knowledge so other people know as well.

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

I went through a similar (albeit a watered-down) traumatic experience, except that I was given a varicella booster the day before my TB test, and I needed all this for my last clinical before graduation! I almost did not finish the program :( ... thankfully, the medical director of my clinical site decided to waive the TB test requirement because my last one the year before still had not reached the 365-day mark. I was eventually tested for TB a month later anyway for pre-employment and there was no issue. Lots of drama it seems for nothing ... :p

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Specializes in ED.

My school doesn't give the option of just providing shot records. They want titers and proof of documentation. According to my record I've never had chicken pox or the varicella vaccine; however, when I was little I did have a mild case of it. My dad and brother had a full blown case of chicken pox. So, if I get the titer and I am not immune to chicken pox, would I just then get a vaccine for it? all that I saw listed on their site was physical and tb skin test, titers for MMR and varicella, and titer for hep b or documentation of beginning of series.

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Specializes in ED.

And we don't have to have ours done until sometime are school starts. I hate not knowing when.. That stuff is expensive! I think we find out on our first day of school, which is orientation for the students that are starting clinicals, since some of their students aren't doing that yet. They did tell me I could pick up a form if I wanted to and go ahead since I need to go in for a check up anyways.

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For those who are asking... my Health Department gave me this link which details all of the CDC's recommendations for vaccines and contraindications. This is the policy they follow. My understanding is that these are not mandatory which would explain the wide range of differences in this thread.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/vac-admin/downloads/contraindications-guide-508.pdf

Thanks to all who have taken the time to put their two-cents in. My chest X-ray is scheduled for Monday and all of this nonsense will be behind me! the bright side is, in the state that I live in, a chest X-ray is good for 5 years while you have to go yearly for TB tests, so in the long run, this will save me money. :D

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Sorry you had to go through that. I just finished with my immunizations, luckily I had my shot records which were so torn and raggedy. I can't believe I still had them. I didn't know titers and all that were so expensive. I just went to my schools Health Clinic and everything was so cheap. Varicella titer was $11, MMR $17.50, PPD is free and all the other vaccinations were pretty cheap, nothing was over $30. I guess it all depends on where your at. But at least you're getting it done.

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The secret to getting all your shots and titers for free is to volunteer at a hospital while you're doing your prerequisites.

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

I never had the chicken pox (and had a negative titer), so I had to get the 2 vaccines. However, I was told (not sure how true it is) that there is no point in getting the titer again because it would still be negative ... apparently, only people who had the disease would have positive titers. Anyway, my school accepted the record of two recent varicella vaccines in lieu of the titer.

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I went and had blood drawn about two weeks ago for the titers to be done. I came home last night to a $1,000 bill from the hospital. Hubby is none too pleased with me right now. I kinda had a feeling our insurance wouldn't pay, but I didn't think it would cost that much! Hopefully I'll get it paid off before my last day of work!

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Specializes in Cardiac intermediate care.
What about a quantiferon gold blood test for TB? Compare the cost to that of a CXR.

That is what I needed. Having worked previously in health care, I had been getting PPDs for the past seven years. The most recent PPD yielded an "equivocal" result, per my PCP. He ordered a quantiferon test, and when it came back negative, I was good to go. However, this is now the test I must get to determine if I have TB, as my skin test may not be conclusive from here on out. It's more expensive than a PPD skin test, but there is less radiation than a CXR, and my health insurance (required by school) covers it.

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Wow thanks for sharing your story! I just went to get my titer bloodwork done on Wednesday. I had to hand them a credit card incase my insurance didn't cover it and it was $683! I sure hope my insurance covers it!

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

I'm so sorry you had to go through that whole ordeal. My school had an orientation back in May and gave us plenty of time to get our immunizations. They did warn us about the MMR affecting the TB result as well. Luckily I had titers done from when I got hired at my hospital job and got my immunization records from my high school transcripts and PMD.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

How much are titers nowadays? My work has always paid for mine so I never get a copy

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