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Monday, November 15, 2010
Last updated 11:27 a.m. PT
Mandatory flu shots or your job? Hospitals get tough with workers
By VANESSA HO
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
After cajoling employees to get a flu shot for years - with festive kick-off campaigns and convenient "flu carts" -- hospitals statewide are getting tough on employees this year, with controversial policies that require some workers to mask their face for months if they skip a flu shot.
The polices are an effort to combat the chronically low flu-shot rate of health-care workers. Nationally, only about 40 percent of workers get vaccinated for seasonal influenza, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's slightly higher than the general public's rate of 35 percent last year.
. . . .
Last week, the Washington State Hospital Association announced that 94 of the state's 98 hospitals had adopted a policy requiring health-care workers to get a flu shot or nasal mist, or take another "patient protective action."
It's up to hospitals to decide what that protective action should be.
. . . .
But Virginia Mason has by far the toughest policy. For five years, the hospital has required most employees to get vaccinated unless they qualify for a religious or medical exemption. Otherwise, they're fired.
Nearly 99 percent of Virginia Mason's 5,000 employees were vaccinated last year. Non-vaccinated workers must wear masks.
"(Health care workers) don't get a flu shot for the same reasons people in the public don't get a flu shot. They think, 'I don't get sick. It's going to make my arm hurt for a day,' " said Cassie Sauer, vice-president of public affairs for the Washington State Hospital Association. The group was behind the big push for new policies this year.
"But there is a code of ethics that requires health-care workers to put the interests of patients above their own interests," Sauer said. "They care for people who are vulnerable and weak. It's a duty to not expose people, to not make them sicker."
. . .
more at: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/430109_flushot.html
Last updated 11:27 a.m. PT
Mandatory flu shots or your job? Hospitals get tough with workers
By VANESSA HO
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
After cajoling employees to get a flu shot for years - with festive kick-off campaigns and convenient "flu carts" -- hospitals statewide are getting tough on employees this year, with controversial policies that require some workers to mask their face for months if they skip a flu shot.
The polices are an effort to combat the chronically low flu-shot rate of health-care workers. Nationally, only about 40 percent of workers get vaccinated for seasonal influenza, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's slightly higher than the general public's rate of 35 percent last year.
. . . .
Last week, the Washington State Hospital Association announced that 94 of the state's 98 hospitals had adopted a policy requiring health-care workers to get a flu shot or nasal mist, or take another "patient protective action."
It's up to hospitals to decide what that protective action should be.
. . . .
But Virginia Mason has by far the toughest policy. For five years, the hospital has required most employees to get vaccinated unless they qualify for a religious or medical exemption. Otherwise, they're fired.
Nearly 99 percent of Virginia Mason's 5,000 employees were vaccinated last year. Non-vaccinated workers must wear masks.
"(Health care workers) don't get a flu shot for the same reasons people in the public don't get a flu shot. They think, 'I don't get sick. It's going to make my arm hurt for a day,' " said Cassie Sauer, vice-president of public affairs for the Washington State Hospital Association. The group was behind the big push for new policies this year.
"But there is a code of ethics that requires health-care workers to put the interests of patients above their own interests," Sauer said. "They care for people who are vulnerable and weak. It's a duty to not expose people, to not make them sicker."
. . .
more at: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/430109_flushot.html