Vaccination or Not

MILLIONS of people get a hospital acquired infection every year and thousands will die because of it.  Think about it, people in hospitals are generally there because they are sick. Their defenses are down.  Yes, hand washing is the major way to prevent the spread of infection.  Second to that is avoiding people who are sick.  Uhm when you work in a hospital that is next to impossible!  The best thing you can do is to protect yourself from the infections your patients, visitors, coworkers may be carrying which will in turn protect your patients.  Some people argue that employees should just stay home when sick.  Yes, that’s true… BUT… many times you are contagious before you even realize you are sick.  Heck I probably was contagious Friday.. my only symptom was a splendid headache but as soon as I got home, all heck broke loose!  And raise your hand if you have ever worked when you were feeling under the weather… yeah, that small cold to you can be deadly to someone who is immunocompromised.

Ok so I know there are valid, health related reasons some people cannot receive this vaccine.  (Those persons are exempt with physician documentation by the way)  And I also know that there are many objections out there to vaccines in general and I'm not here to start a massive debate on vaccines and autism.  I just think that everyone who does patient care should very seriously consider the patients they are serving and how they can best protect their health and well-being.  If that means employees getting a vaccination, washing their hands until they are chapped, and being slightly short-staffed when people are sick then THAT is where I want to be treated when I land in the hospital.

Anyone else have an opinion?