RN's-is it mandatory to vax yourself for nursing school?

[coloradomama1]

i'm thinking about starting prereqs for nursing school and heard that vax's are required. we are a non vaxing family, is there any way to get around this?

[futurmama8]

I really don't think so unless you can have your doc write a note. I know at our school to do the child and family rotation at a certain hospital they were required to get a flu shot before stepping in the hospital. Its crazy and ridiculous but the schools are medical establishments. I am supposed to be getting the Tdap and a tb test but I am putting it off as long as I can

O and you HAVE to get a tb test every year. HTH

[kate3]

This question gets asked a lot in the vax forum, and things tend to get heated quickly. I'm a nursing professor, so I will explain how this works.

The school and the hospital are separate, and that's the part most people don't understand. The college will most likely accept a waiver/exemption, so no problems there. However, the hopsitals that you will do your clinical rotations in have completely different requirements and can set their own rules and regualtions. So, even though the college will except your waiver, the hospital does not have to. They do not need to accept a physician note. They can refuse to allow you access for clinical. Without clinical, you cannot complete the program.

Hospitals will accept positive titers as proof of immunity. So, it you received vaccines as a child or had the disease and have the titers to prove it, you will be OK. All hospitals require a yearly TB test.

Hope this helps.

[mauri456]

kate3 explained it well.

also, the hospitals are accredited by jcaho. jcaho mandates things such as the yearly tb testing. i could be wrong but im fairly certain they could loose their accredation if their employees or students providing direct patient care do not have the mandated items.

[marilynmama]

I never had to have any vaccines for school or the hospital.

You will have to show immunity (titers are fine) to MMR and chickenpox though. I've never had to take the flu shot, but always encouraged too. HepB you can take the shot or sign the waiver (I've always signed the waiver).

[coloradomama1]

so does it just depend on the specific hospital's policy that is associated with the program?

[kate3]

I've never seen a hospital let in a nursing student who could not show immunity to the diseases they were looking for. Remember, students are not employees. Typically they want to see vaccination for or immunity to: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hep B, pertussis, dyptheria, tetanus, chichken pox. If you can show proof of immunity through titers you do not need additional vaccination. The hospital I take my students to does not require the flu or meningitis vaccine.

If there is a specific program you are considering I would call the university and talk with the person who coordinates the clinical placements. They may be able to let you know if there is any wiggle room in the contract with the hospital(s). But I would get this all sorted out before you even apply to the program. You definitely don't want to start and then find out you will be unable to finish.

Best of luck.

[lorijds]

I would like to point out that the school will most likely NOT stick their neck out for you. Most schools are competing for a limited number of clinical sites, and are not going to rock any boats in their clinical sites.

I think your best bets would be to go to a religiously-affilitated school (particularly one that is mennonite (just in my limited experience)) or to a school that has it's own med center associated with it--like a major university medical center. The schools that are part of a major medical center don't have to compete for clinical sites, since they *are* a clinical site. The religiously affiliated schools are more likely to have a tradition of students who are homeschooled or alternatively schooled and may look more kindly on the unvaccinated student.

In my hospital, we don't have to get ANY vaccine. But we can be "reassigned" at whim if, for example, we have a major flu outbreak. As a student, you can't be suddenly reassigned to a desk job or nonclinical job during a flu epidemic. So they'll just flunk you.

I agree, it's much better to find this out now than to find it out half way through a program.

And FYI, most schools, even with vaccine requirements, still require titers to be drawn. Immunization records are too easy to fudge or to loose, and they are often incomplete--not showing that you have had chicken pox, for example. It's easier for the schools to just have proof of immunization through titers. That way, though, you don't have to get duplicate boosters, or get an immunization for a disease you've already had (like chicken pox). My school required titers for MMR, chicken pox, hep B, and required up to date records on proof of Td.

Good luck!