Western Governors University (WGU) and Flu Shot Declination Pre-Licensure BSN

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Hi,

I'm awaiting possible acceptance to the WGU pre-license BSN program. I'm concerned about clinical placement since I decline the flu shot yearly. Before anti anti-vacxxers attack me, I have all other vacs required for the program! I do not want to get into a con/pro flu vac debate.

I work at the healthcare system where WGU clinical will be had and I declined the flu shot at work as well. We are then required I have to wear a mask in clinical areas per policy.

The question is whether the flu declination will hinder me from continuing on in the rest of the program after the pre-nursing 1st semester is done? Do you think a facility could have different policies for employees then they do for students?

I don't know if I can pose this question to WGU until I'm well into the 1st semester and when we are due to gather all the requirements (drug test, immunizations, physical, health ins, etc) before going into the 2nd semester so they can start the placement process.

Anyone with any info (from any state) please weigh in on your experience or even what you have heard.

Thank you!

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Specializes in ED.

Facilities can certainly have different policies for their employees than they do for students who will be participating in clinical rotations. More stringent policies can also be put into place by the university. As an example, the university I graduated from required students to cover all tattoos and take out some piercings while at all clinical sites. These sites often had no tattoo or piercing policies for employees.

Best thing to do is to ask your school about their vaccine policy for clinicals. In my opinion, and without addressing the real issue here, it would be a shame for you to create issues for yourself, and potentially put a target on your back, so early in your program over a flu vaccine.

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Thanks for the reply! WGU has a form avail for declining. This is a big deal to me. I'll get a verbal confirmation about it from WGU though. That's a great place to start. TY!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

In answer to your question OP- you will be more than likely declined for admission. Just because you work at a clinical partner- does not mean you will be placed there. And as MotoMonkey stated above- policies for students and employees are not the same.

What you have to remember is that students are guests of clinical sites. And that clinical placement is difficult to come by and so an applicant who does not want to adhere to policy is going to find themselves declined.

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Specializes in Adult Primary Care.
33 minutes ago, meanmaryjean said:

In answer to your question OP- you will be more than likely declined for admission. Just because you work at a clinical partner- does not mean you will be placed there. And as MotoMonkey stated above- policies for students and employees are not the same.

What you have to remember is that students are guests of clinical sites. And that clinical placement is difficult to come by and so an applicant who does not want to adhere to policy is going to find themselves declined.

Agreed with MMJ. I am a clinical preceptor for NP students, and no matter what their school policy is I require any student NP with me have flu vaccines / tattos covered. Honestly I don't really care about the tatoos but many of my patients do care.

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49 minutes ago, meanmaryjean said:

In answer to your question OP- you will be more than likely declined for admission. Just because you work at a clinical partner- does not mean you will be placed there. And as MotoMonkey stated above- policies for students and employees are not the same.

What you have to remember is that students are guests of clinical sites. And that clinical placement is difficult to come by and so an applicant who does not want to adhere to policy is going to find themselves declined.

They only use my organization in FL, AdventHealth (Florida Hospital) for clinicals. There are campuses across the state.

Do you have info on WGU itself?

Also, we have not found flu declination is against WGU's policy as of yet.

13 minutes ago, AnnieNP said:

Agreed with MMJ. I am a clinical preceptor for NP students, and no matter what their school policy is I require any student NP with me have flu vaccines / tattos covered. Honestly I don't really care about the tatoos but many of my patients do care.

Thanks for sharing your personal feelings, but do you work with WGU students?

Do you know anything pertaining to their policy?

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WGU lists both the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu vaccination as special requirements for the B.S. Nursing (Prelicensure) program. It appears that there is an option to sign a declination for H1N1.

https://www.wgu.edu/admissions/nursing-health-requirements.html

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Specializes in ED.
On 1/11/2020 at 6:36 PM, CAFFEINEgtt said:

Do you have info on WGU itself?...

Thanks for sharing your personal feelings, but do you work with WGU students?

Do you know anything pertaining to their policy?

While I understand that receiving specific school info would be helpful, you did ask for people, from anywhere, to weigh in with their experience.

On 1/11/2020 at 2:31 PM, CAFFEINEgtt said:

Anyone with any info (from any state) please weigh in on your experience or even what you have heard.

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8 minutes ago, chare said:

WGU lists both the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu vaccination as special requirements for the B.S. Nursing (Prelicensure) program. It appears that there is an option to sign a declination for H1N1.

https://www.wgu.edu/admissions/nursing-health-requirements.html

Thank you, Chare! Now I'll have to find out the AdventHealth policies for students, then go from there. TY!

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On 1/11/2020 at 7:15 PM, MotoMonkey said:

While I understand that receiving specific school info would be helpful, you did ask for people, from anywhere, to weigh in with their experience.

Oh, I'm sorry. I meant pertaining to WGU. I'll fix that. Thank you!

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Even if WGU accepts your declination form, that does not mean that the clinical sites will accept you on campus now or somewhere down the line. I think that's what someone else in the thread was alluding to. This has come up before where the university didn't have a policy requiring a flu shot, but the clinical site did.

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Ok. This is helpful. Thank you!

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