Hep B for healthcare workers?

[Carolinamidwife]

nm! I got my answer from a fellow midwife. Thank you.

[Marnica]

Are you a nurse?? Do you routinely give injections? What do you do and what type of "high risk" people will you be seeing

[beanma]

Carolina, I am not sure if we've met or not. I'm in Chapel Hill. I'm cautious about vaxes, but don't feel certain in my convictions on either side of the issue. I did want to let you know, though, about a mom I know in the area who now suffers from progressive vision loss coincidentally enough after she got a Hep B vax because she was working in a lab environment. Later as the vision loss showed up she realized that it was listed as a side effectof the Hep B vax. I don't think she was able to or tried to show a definitive cause and effect, but she feels like it was too coincidental to not throw some blame that way.

So I guess my advice would be to proceed with caution. I'm sure there many other anecdotal stories about healthcare workers who contract Hep B if they haven't been vaxed, too.

Good luck making your decision.

[jeliphish]

I'm a CPS social worker so I definitly get it and stay on top of the tetnus. About 65% of the people I deal with have a form of Hep. so I feel like it was worth it to get vaxed. When I first started here I was on call and had to respond to a police call where there was a complaint about abused animals. When the police got there, they realized that the woman there was raising her 5 week old. Well, I walked into that damn place and the smell.....oh the smell...was enought to make you sick. There were 5 pit bulls living in the house and, I kid you not, had deficated and peed on every possible inch of space on the floor. I stepped on a loose wire of sorts that cut my foot and of course it was covered in crap. After that i was sure to vax myself against certain things that I knew I would be exposed to.

[Carolinamidwife]

I somehow managed to cross edit with both of the last two posts, lol.

Beanma, I don't know if we have met either but thank you for your post.

As it turns out I don't have enough time for the series of shots I would need to make it effective. I'm very good about universal precautions so I will just keep on keeping on with that.

Thank you, again!

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by jeliphish

I'm a CPS social worker so I definitly get it and stay on top of the tetnus. About 65% of the people I deal with have a form of Hep. so I feel like it was worth it to get vaxed. When I first started here I was on call and had to respond to a police call where there was a complaint about abused animals. When the police got there, they realized that the woman there was raising her 5 week old. Well, I walked into that damn place and the smell.....oh the smell...was enought to make you sick. There were 5 pit bulls living in the house and, I kid you not, had deficated and peed on every possible inch of space on the floor. I stepped on a loose wire of sorts that cut my foot and of course it was covered in crap. After that i was sure to vax myself against certain things that I knew I would be exposed to.

65% of people you see have Hep B?.....How can you know that? Do you demand to see the medical records of the parents of the children you see? (I'm not being sarcastic I genuinely am curious). I am a social worker on a mobile crisis team...we are often are in high risk situations in the community with people considered "high risk" I still don't see the risk of contracting Hep B from this population unless you are at risk of a possible needle stick because you give injections. Unfortunately I received this series when I first started out in my profession in the late 199's before I knew any better because it was "recommended" I regret it as it caused a myriad of health problems for me IMO.

[jeliphish]

Originally Posted by Marnica

65% of people you see have Hep B?.....How can you know that? Do you demand to see the medical records of the parents of the children you see? (I'm not being sarcastic I genuinely am curious). I am a social worker on a mobile crisis team...we are often are in high risk situations in the community with people considered "high risk" I still don't see the risk of contracting Hep B from this population unless you are at risk of a possible needle stick because you give injections. Unfortunately I received this series when I first started out in my profession in the late 199's before I knew any better because it was "recommended" I regret it as it caused a myriad of health problems for me IMO.

No- not specifically Hep B, I said a form of Hep. I have 10 clients at this point and 6 adults and 1 child has it. 2 of my adult clients have Hep C and the other 4.5 are refugies from Uganda and have Hep B. So that was my statistical number even though I counted the child as a half percent. They volunteered the information to me when we were planning their family "plan" when listing the "stressors" that are currently in their life.
I didn't so much get it because of certain clients- I certainly feel "safe" around these clients but some of the situations I encounter when I have had to do a removal or go out with the police certainly make me want to get the vaccine. We had a worker get poked by a needle that was hidden in a babies diaper bag. I have been on a removal at a "squat" house where there were needles in every freaking corner of the home. So those situations, yes...I am at risk, or at least that's my opinion. If you work with just an "at risk" population and don't ever do field work than I wouldn't see the point in getting innoculated.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by jeliphish

No- not specifically Hep B, I said a form of Hep. I have 10 clients at this point and 6 adults and 1 child has it. 2 of my adult clients have Hep C and the other 4.5 are refugies from Uganda and have Hep B. So that was my statistical number even though I counted the child as a half percent. They volunteered the information to me when we were planning their family "plan" when listing the "stressors" that are currently in their life.
I didn't so much get it because of certain clients- I certainly feel "safe" around these clients but some of the situations I encounter when I have had to do a removal or go out with the police certainly make me want to get the vaccine. We had a worker get poked by a needle that was hidden in a babies diaper bag. I have been on a removal at a "squat" house where there were needles in every freaking corner of the home. So those situations, yes...I am at risk, or at least that's my opinion. If you work with just an "at risk" population and don't ever do field work than I wouldn't see the point in getting innoculated.

Just a case of different strokes I guess....I am in mobile crisis...I am out in situations like you describe everyday. I still wouldn't get it.

[mamadelbosque]

My DH just got his first does of Hep B yesterday morning... he's in school to be a paramedic, and its apparently 'required'. I assume he could probably get an exemption if he wanted to, but he feels like its worth it considering what he'll be doing eventually.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

My DH just got his first does of Hep B yesterday morning... he's in school to be a paramedic, and its apparently 'required'. I assume he could probably get an exemption if he wanted to, but he feels like its worth it considering what he'll be doing eventually.

Given that he would be routinely exposed to body fluid and blood and giving injections thanb I can understand why he made this choice.