Forensic Nursing Chronicles

I work in an ER and we had to rent a trailer to handle all of the patients with flu like symptoms. These people where truly frightened. This fear was unnecessary. We see more deaths from the yearly flu then we did from H1N1. I feel the fear was media driven with little education provided.

Original Post
November 24, 2009
Title: Are we Ready for a Pandemic
I am a student at a major University and it seems everywhere you turn the phrase H1N1 can be heard. We have had two deaths from H1N1 at our university alone since the start of the fall semester. Talk of a vaccine gave hope to many students that they would be protected from the virus. However, once the vaccine arrived many students chose not to get the immunization. As stressed in our book, infectious disease is a leading cause of mortality around the world. Two of the top ten leading causes of death are infectious diseases. With this fact in mind, it is important that the United States population be educated on how vital it is to keep infectious disease under control. If the H1N1 virus is not contained, it could easily become a pandemic. The concept of a pandemic is not new to our society however. Pandemics can be traced back to the early beginnings of life. However, through technological advances such as immunizations, human immunity has been augmented giving the individuals the ability to fight off disease. The emergence of the H1N1 vaccine is yet another example of how technology has assisted our culture in evading a pandemic once again.

Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Forensic Nursing H1N1 pandemic

Central California has been hard hit by the H1N1 influenza. We have had two deaths in our ICU due to this virus but two weeks ago. When we received our first doses of the vaccine, more than half of the nurses in my unit refused to be vaccinated. The reasons were varied. Some never got annual flu vaccines, others thought that they would get the flu from the vaccine, and still others felt like they had the H1N1 flu already and had natural immunity. The physician population had similar excuses. Attempts to educate and alleviate fears fell on deaf ears. I’m puzzled to watch healthcare professionals choose to not be vaccinated while they care for a much younger population suffering the sometimes deadly consequences of this novel flu. Freedom of choice appears to be a stronger motivator than fear. Are we teaching the general public and patients our fears and beliefs.

Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Forensic Nursing Mass Disasters, Forensic Nursing H1N1 flu virus

I have mixed emotions on this topic as well. When our NYS hospital mandated every employee be immunized against influenza, I was far from thrilled. I have never -in 20 years of healthcare – ever had a flu shot. I realize that as nurses, educators, leadership – we should set the example and think in the best interest of the patient…but I also feel that government does have a way of trying to control. As a member of Nursing Leadership I helped man the flu clinics and I did receive my vaccine – the day before the temporary retraint was approved. More recently we have held flu clinics for employees opting to have the H1N1 vaccine. Our area has been hit with several cases of "swine" flu in the schools and community. Luckily we haven’t had any fatal cases, but some of these individuals have been seriously ill. There is room for debate, but what truly is the lesser of two evils?

Original Post
November 2, 2009
Title: Are we ready for a Pandemic? (comment)
I couldn’t agree more with the writer of the previous forum about the mandatory immunization of nurses in NYS. I feel it is irresponsible and unprofessional of nurses not to get immunized against the flu. We as nurses are responsible to our patients to not get them sicker while we care for them. Studies have indicated that when tested, 33% of healthcare workers in one study tested positive for the flu last year but showed absolutely no flu symptoms. It is commendable that the nurses who say they don’t want to be immunized would agree to stay home if sick but unfortunately it is not in the nurses natures to think they are sick and as the study indicates many showed no signs of sickness but were contagious. We are required to have yearly Tb tests and I don’t hear people screaming about that. I am confused as to why we don’t want to do what is best for our patients.

Original Post
October 19, 2009
Title: Are we ready for a Pandemic
I thought my state had the right idea in preparation for the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu that has begun to hit our schools and will inevitably be hitting our hospitals and nursing homes. The NYSDOH (New York State Department of Health) had mandated an emergency regulation, which mandated annual flu vaccinations for all healthcare personnel by Nov 30. This is no different to the already in place regulation of requiring mandatory vaccinations of healthcare workers for measles, mumps, rubella and TB testing. As an educator, I also must regulate the company representatives and vendors coming into our organization, that they also must have all the necessary immunizations prior coming to our surgery department. This is not only to protect our patients, who are already at a compromised state, but also to protect them from contact of our patients. We as educators and leadership began to immunize our healthcare workers to proactively prepare for what was to come. As of last week, we had immunized well over 75% of our workers. We know our hospitals have shortcomings in that we ask our workers to stay at home if they contract symptoms or they must stay home with their children, but on the other side of the coin, we reprimanded them if they are sick longer than three days, as they do not have a note from their doctors, as they cannot go to the doctors offices for fear of spreading the disease. As in everything we see each day, we began to hear grumblings from some of our own nurses. "No one is going to make me get a vaccine". They were going to go to our state capitol to argue and try to block the mandatory flu shots-as the subsequent lawsuit stated it was to "protect the rights of nearly 60,000 medical workers" in New York State. As of today, there is a temporary restrain order blocking this mandate. What is the question here? Do the nurses not want to be vaccinated? Do they not want to be "mandated to be vaccinated"™ I think the state made a gutsy move attempting to be proactive in the wake of a possible pandemic. I went into healthcare many years ago to help people, to care for the sick and dying. I participated in a smallpox inoculation workshop, when the threats of bioterrorism and chemical warfare hit home. What is wrong with these nurses- are they more concerned with going to their unions than they are about their patients? During the legal turmoil that will probably take weeks. I read in the paper just yesterday, that the flu virus has claimed eleven deaths of children and teens during the last week-eighty-six in all. Its effects are now seen in forty-one states. Who is going to care for the very sick people that are going to be coming into our organizations? Did you not learn anything from the HIV virus?

Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Forensic Nursing Mass Disasters, Forensic Nursing H1N1 flu virus

I couldn’t agree more with the writer of the previous forum about the mandatory immunization of nurses in NYS. I feel it is irresponsible and unprofessional of nurses not to get immunized against the flu. We as nurses are responsible to our patients to not get them sicker while we care for them. Studies have indicated that when tested, 33% of healthcare workers in one study tested positive for the flu last year but showed absolutely no flu symptoms. It is commendable that the nurses who say they don’t want to be immunized would agree to stay home if sick but unfortunately it is not in the nurses natures to think they are sick and as the study indicates many showed no signs of sickness but were contagious. We are required to have yearly Tb tests and I don’t hear people screaming about that. I am confused as to why we don’t want to do what is best for our patients.

Original Post
October 19, 2009
Title: Are we ready for a Pandemic
I thought my state had the right idea in preparation for the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu that has begun to hit our schools and will inevitably be hitting our hospitals and nursing homes. The NYSDOH (New York State Department of Health) had mandated an emergency regulation, which mandated annual flu vaccinations for all healthcare personnel by Nov 30. This is no different to the already in place regulation of requiring mandatory vaccinations of healthcare workers for measles, mumps, rubella and TB testing. As an educator, I also must regulate the company representatives and vendors coming into our organization, that they also must have all the necessary immunizations prior coming to our surgery department. This is not only to protect our patients, who are already at a compromised state, but also to protect them from contact of our patients. We as educators and leadership began to immunize our healthcare workers to proactively prepare for what was to come. As of last week, we had immunized well over 75% of our workers. We know our hospitals have shortcomings in that we ask our workers to stay at home if they contract symptoms or they must stay home with their children, but on the other side of the coin, we reprimanded them if they are sick longer than three days, as they do not have a note from their doctors, as they cannot go to the doctors offices for fear of spreading the disease. As in everything we see each day, we began to hear grumblings from some of our own nurses. "No one is going to make me get a vaccine". They were going to go to our state capitol to argue and try to block the mandatory flu shots-as the subsequent lawsuit stated it was to "protect the rights of nearly 60,000 medical workers" in New York State. As of today, there is a temporary restrain order blocking this mandate. What is the question here? Do the nurses not want to be vaccinated? Do they not want to be "mandated to be vaccinated"™ I think the state made a gutsy move attempting to be proactive in the wake of a possible pandemic. I went into healthcare many years ago to help people, to care for the sick and dying. I participated in a smallpox inoculation workshop, when the threats of bioterrorism and chemical warfare hit home. What is wrong with these nurses- are they more concerned with going to their unions than they are about their patients? During the legal turmoil that will probably take weeks. I read in the paper just yesterday, that the flu virus has claimed eleven deaths of children and teens during the last week-eighty-six in all. Its effects are now seen in forty-one states. Who is going to care for the very sick people that are going to be coming into our organizations? Did you not learn anything from the HIV virus?

Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Forensic Nursing Mass Disasters, Forensic Nursing H1N1 flu virus

I thought my state had the right idea in preparation for the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu that has begun to hit our schools and will inevitably be hitting our hospitals and nursing homes. The NYSDOH (New York State Department of Health) had mandated an emergency regulation, which mandated annual flu vaccinations for all healthcare personnel by Nov 30. This is no different to the already in place regulation of requiring mandatory vaccinations of healthcare workers for measles, mumps, rubella and TB testing. As an educator, I also must regulate the company representatives and vendors coming into our organization, that they also must have all the necessary immunizations prior coming to our surgery department. This is not only to protect our patients, who are already at a compromised state, but also to protect them from contact of our patients. We as educators and leadership began to immunize our healthcare workers to proactively prepare for what was to come. As of last week, we had immunized well over 75% of our workers. We know our hospitals have shortcomings in that we ask our workers to stay at home if they contract symptoms or they must stay home with their children, but on the other side of the coin, we reprimanded them if they are sick longer than three days, as they do not have a note from their doctors, as they cannot go to the doctors offices for fear of spreading the disease. As in everything we see each day, we began to hear grumblings from some of our own nurses. "No one is going to make me get a vaccine". They were going to go to our state capitol to argue and try to block the mandatory flu shots-as the subsequent lawsuit stated it was to "protect the rights of nearly 60,000 medical workers" in New York State. As of today, there is a temporary restrain order blocking this mandate. What is the question here? Do the nurses not want to be vaccinated? Do they not want to be "mandated to be vaccinated"™ I think the state made a gutsy move attempting to be proactive in the wake of a possible pandemic. I went into healthcare many years ago to help people, to care for the sick and dying. I participated in a smallpox inoculation workshop, when the threats of bioterrorism and chemical warfare hit home. What is wrong with these nurses- are they more concerned with going to their unions than they are about their patients? During the legal turmoil that will probably take weeks. I read in the paper just yesterday, that the flu virus has claimed eleven deaths of children and teens during the last week-eighty-six in all. Its effects are now seen in forty-one states. Who is going to care for the very sick people that are going to be coming into our organizations? Did you not learn anything from the HIV virus?

Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Forensic Nursing Mass Disasters, Forensic Nursing H1N1 flu virus