The Importance Of Flu Vaccine In Health Care

To get the flu vaccine or not to get the flu vaccine? This is a huge controversial question millions of Americans today ask themselves every year. There are many myths that come along with the topic of the flu vaccine that lead to people questioning the effectiveness of the medication. Safety for our families and loved ones is what we aim to achieve, but what are the pros and cons of this vaccine? What are the consequences and what are myths, but most importantly: what are the reasons we should get it in the first place? In this paper you will learn the many reasons for the flu vaccination and how it affects different populations beginning with children all the way to the elderly population. First of all, what is the flu

Illnesses have long haunted the human race. As long as these illnesses have existed, humans have developed ways to cure themselves, beginning with simple herbs and proceeding as far as vaccines and complex medicines. One cure that long eluded scientists was that of the influenza virus. Now, the influenza vaccine, or flu shot, saves thousands of lives a year and helps prevent serious complications resulting from influenza infection.

Influenza results in excess of two hundred thousand hospitalizations in the United States (Tosh & Jacobson, 2010). Mortality rates for influenza related illness have risen. The purpose of this paper is to discuss mandated healthcare influenza vaccination in healthcare workers and will examine a Cochrane review summary, mandated healthcare influenza vaccination, and healthcare worker immunization practices in a Veterans Affairs Health Center.

Health care governments have endorsed an assortment of vaccination policies and mediations to safeguard against the known dangers of influenza communication, with longer patient stays, absenteeism, intermissions in health care, and death. Studies assessing the consequence of health care workers vaccination found that health care workers influenza vaccination was linked with a decrease in patient death (Murana, 2014). Assessing the results of health care worker influenza vaccination on patient results anticipated that if all health care workers were vaccinated, patient influenza infections could be stopped.

Today I got to experience giving middle school and high school students’ flu shots at Lanier County Middle/High School. I was expecting the students to be nervous and show signs of intimidation at the sight of the needle. Before going to the school, I helped the nurse gather the equipment we were going to use, which included, the influenza immunizations, Band-Aids, alcohol prep wipes, and gloves. We also brought colorful pencils and stickers for the students after receiving their flu shot. The nurse also made sure to bring the emergency kit, which consisted of epinephrine, just in case anyone had an allergic reaction.

The most dangerous diseases of our nation have been streaked out by widespread protection or immunity. This widespread protection has been the effect of an immense vaccination which is also called an immunization that introduces vaccines into the body. In this textbook, it mentions that a vaccine is “a preparation of killed, inactivated, or attenuated microorganisms or toxoids to induce artificially acquired active immunity.” (Tortora 487). Like anything else, there are many individuals who disagree with the common immunity or vaccination in general. These people base themselves off weak and false studies, which they then take and go further to spread their bias misled beliefs. These individuals do all of this without looking at the history,

The influenza vaccination in not only beneficial to recipients but also those that come in contact with the individuals exposed to or at risk for contracting influenza. Health care workers are at a constant risk of exposure to various diseases and illness including influenza. An emergency such as a vaccination shortage for influenza will not only affect at risk individuals but spread rapidly to all those exposed without knowledge or a-symptomatic at time of encounter. Health care workers will be exposed in physician offices, hospitals, emergency care or urgent care centers with heightened possibility of spreading the illness (CDC, 2015). Health care workers are not limited to the obvious: physicians or nurses but also, therapists, EMS,

In recent years encouragement to get flu shots has become a yearly mantra. Elderly, children six months to two years, health care workers and immune-deficient people are urged in the strongest terms to go to their doctors or clinics and get a flu shot. This group encompasses about 98 million people. In the fall of 2004 this was in the forefront of American and to some extent the Western World media with the shortage of this flu seasons vaccine. Current medical wisdom states that flu shots are safe, effective and prevent mortality. A recent study published by The Journal of the American Medicine Association (JAMA) has brought the current wisdom into question. On February 14, 2005 JAMA

For the past ten years, we at Virginia Mason Medical Center have been implementing mandatory influenza vaccination. This is due to the flu vaccination being able to reduce flu illnesses and prevent flu-related hospitalizations. According to the Center for Control and Disease (CDC, 2014) during 2012-2013, an estimated 45% of the U.S population got vaccinated, helping to prevent an estimated 6.6 million flu-related illness, with 3.2 million flu-related medical visits, almost 80,000 hospitalizations and roughly $87 billion dollars in total economic burden. Influenza is extremely contagious and each year on an average 5%-20% of the U.S population get the flu with tens of thousands die from a flu-related illness. Therefore, many health cares setting along with Virginia Mason Medical Center is mandating all their healthcare workers to get the influenza vaccination. Consequently, making annual influenza vaccination requirement for healthcare workers a continuing and debatable health topic. The potential of getting the vaccination have great benefits to healthcare professionals, their patients, and their families by

Everywhere you look you see ads on the tv, at the store, on the highway, even in school you will sometimes see some sort of advertising one ad you will see more frequently during flu season are ads put out by the center for disease control but what makes an add effective to a certain audience? In America alone an average of between 5 and 20 percent of americans will be infected with the influenza virus per year. The CDC has been effectively running their flu vaccination for many years now but the question is what makes these adds effective or ineffective? The three adds benefits of vaccination, quiz add, and travel ad each have a certain techniques they use to promote vaccination.

To increase patient and hcw safety, health care workers should be mandate to get vaccination. Hcw are more at risk to get infection because of their contact with patient and then to spread it to patients, specially patients who are susceptible to the infection (CITATION). Influenza symptoms appears within 1-4 days. Before even hcw workes know that they have influenza infection and they are contagious, they may spread the infection to patient . Also, if hcw are infected, it will cause impact on their mental and physical functioning. Two randomly conducted studies have supported that mandatory influenza vaccination for hcw helped in decreasing death rate upto 44% in nursing home residents (Ottenberg, 2011). Potter et. al. identified that because of increased staff vaccination mortality rate reduced from 17% to 10% (Suillivan, 2010). The other fact which can effect patient safety due to low rate of vaccination is absenteeism of hcw during influenza epidemic.

Every year, millions of people start talking about the influenza virus and getting their vaccines as the flu season approaches, which starts around the October-November period and reaches its peak between December and March. Therefore, public health officials around the world- and in the U.S in particular- are constantly challenged by properly preparing for the annual influenza dilemma, given that this viruses, and other respiratory viruses, are a serious health threat to the U.S population and the world as a whole. Furthermore, what makes the influenza virus even more challenging to control is that it can mutate rapidly and reassort to form new strains, having the ability to reside in multiple animal hosts. In fact, many scientists and researchers have been doing in-depth intensive research so as to understand the mechanism behind this unique characteristic of the virus, try to find new ways to control it, and explore different areas of protection and vaccination.

In the elderly (P), does the flu vaccine (I) compared to no vaccine (C) reduce the incidence of the flu (O) during flu season(T)?

Does the flu shot do more harm than good? The shot contains many harmful ingredients, weakens the immune system, and works no better than other, more natural remedies. The flu vaccination changes nearly annually because the each strand of the virus mutates every year. Since the flu shot is developed about eight to ten months in advance, so if the virus mutates during that time frame, the shot is ineffective when administered (The Drs. Wolfson). Many people get vaccinated each year because they believe it protects them; however, there are also many people that do not feel the need to go out and be vaccinated every year because their more natural protective barriers have worked or because they are aware of the dangers of the flu shot. Getting the flu shot does lower someone’s chances of getting the flu, but it only works with the circulating virus. People should strongly oppose getting a flu shot due to the negative

flu vaccines should be mandatory for healthcare workers. Vaccines are known as a miracle of modern medicine. Vaccines are known to saving lives and wiping out many contagious diseases. There has been a long debate whether annual flu vaccine should be mandatory for all healthcare workers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all healthcare workers receive the vaccination against the flu to reduce spreading the virus to their colleagues, families and to the vulnerable people in their care. While the flu vaccine can cause some minor side effects, flu vaccines need to be mandatory for all health care associates because they put patients at a greater risk for contracting it, they wipe away many contagious diseases, and they save thousands of lives.