Five Ways to Convince Patients they Need Flu Shots

While I appreciate your comments and suggestions on how to get pts to participate more in flu vaccination, it is very difficult to do this when the CDC announces that this years flu vaccine may not be as effective for the variety of flu that is expected for this year. People see this on the news and feel why should they even get the vaccine if it is not going to totally prevent them from getting the flu??

No flu shot is calibrated for every strain that may come down the path. It is for those that are likely to become a problem in the community, and this means some strains may be left out. For the sake of the patient, though, and what they are hearing from the CDC, it helps to explain that the vaccine casts a wide net. However, some infections can break through, but those are unlikely. Would it be better to be cast open to every flu strain possible or be inoculated from the ones most likely to infect them? It may not prevent them from getting the flu -- and the CDC says that every year -- but it is the best defense we currently have against flu.

I agree with first in family. We should be honest with pts, give information with all the facts. Also, we need to encourage health habits that will support our patient's own immune response to the flu, and other attacks.

I don't believe in the flu shot and am sickened that so many of us are being forced to take it regardless of the risk and our personal autonomy to our own body is being violated! I do not encourage my patients to get the flu vaccine. I'm glad they finally get a printout talking about the risks some serious from the vaccine, which they never used to get. I've taken care of too many patients that got guillaine barre from a flu shot. I'm not a stepford nurse and I won't let someone tell me what to think or push onto my patients. They at least have free will whether or not to take the vaccine. We should all be able to make a free informed choice! I can't be the only one who has encountered vaccine victims with guillaine barre from the flu shot!

Quote from brandy1017I don't believe in the flu shot and am sickened that so many of us are being forced to take it regardless of the risk and our personal autonomy to our own body is being violated! I do not encourage my patients to get the flu vaccine. I'm glad they finally get a printout talking about the risks some serious from the vaccine, which they never used to get. I've taken care of too many patients that got guillaine barre from a flu shot. I'm not a stepford nurse and I won't let someone tell me what to think or push onto my patients. They at least have free will whether or not to take the vaccine. We should all be able to make a free informed choice! I can't be the only one who has encountered vaccine victims with guillaine barre from the flu shot!

I would never push a flu shot on anyone, if they say No I leave it at that.

I think for patients who are at high risk for the flu and pneumonia, a flu shot is something that is vital. Yes, there are side effects, but how many medications do we give that have side effects that are much worse and much more common? Would you rather see that 70 yo COPD patient in the hospital with pneumonia because they were afraid of the outside chance of Guillane Barre? What's the greater risk? I would NEVER force a treatment on the patient, but I would certainly make sure they were informed and give them all the reasons it would be helpful for them -- including the possible risks.

I don't "convince" anyone that they need it. I offer it, I tell them we recommend it, and I answer any questions they have. If they say no, I let it go. I believe in patient autonomy.

Quote from macawakeIt's much more common to get Guillain-Barr� syndrome as a complication of influenza itself, other respiratory illness or viral/bacterial infection than it after taking the flu shot.Guillain-Barr� Syndrome (GBS) | Seasonal Influenza (Flu) | CDC(For what it's worth, I've personally never had a patient who got the syndrome as a result of the flu shot).Evidence shows that the influenza vaccine saves lives and I believe that nurses should be supporters of vaccination. I agree that patients should receive information about possible side effects as well as the benefits of vaccination.

I would never take a flu shot and would consider it useless because of constant mutation of the Influenza virus. There is simply no way to target all strains with precision so why bother? Flu vaccine is nothing more than a cash cow for pharm companies and it does more harm than good in many ways than one can imagine, especially when retail chains like Walmart, CVS and Walgreens are actively pushing it.

Perhaps convince was a poor choice of words, but what else should be used? How to Educate your Patient about Flu Shots? Maybe that would be better. That said, I wouldn't "force" the flu shot on patients, but I would recommend it. Even with its shortcomings, it is a preventative that is the best we have to combat flu. Severely ill patients can greatly benefit from it, and prevent further illnesses. It shouldn't be distributed to the general public in the wide way it is, but the very young, the severely ill, and the very old would be in great danger not to take it. That's my opinion on it. I believe in preventative medicine, and this is the best we have.

As someone who was "forced" to get a flu shot or find other employment, I don't encourage people - I offer, if they decline, fine. I think a pneumo vax for all bedside nurses would be more effective than the "crap shoot" flu shot each year that has already mutated to adapt this year. I'm very concerned we are going to see the same issues with vaccines, like the flu, that we now have with antibiotics - we are going to create more and more resistant strains that medications don't work on due to overexposure. I KNOW that's not how it should work with vaccines, BUT you never know.