From the Infection Control Weekly Monitor - December 10, 2008

[Guest guest]

I hope they are sued or prosecuted for violating patient's rights.

CGF

Alaska hospital issues ultimatum: Get a flu shot or get out

An Alaskan hospital has told all of its employees to get an influenza vaccination by December 31 or to find a new job.

The Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage is not giving its workers a choice about whether to get a flu shot (unless they have a medical reason not to) and warned those who refuse will face dismissal, reported the Anchorage Daily News. While the new policy may be cutting-edge, it is controversial, especially among nurses, the newspaper said.

Physicians on the hospital’s infection control committee unanimously supported the requirement, Clancy, MD, Providence’s medical director of infection control, told the newspaper, calling the facility’s vaccination rates “terrible to the point of embarrassing.” Last flu season, about 40% of employees at Providence were vaccinated, close to the 42% of healthcare workers nationally.

With the new mandate, close to 70% of employees have been vaccinated, with the end-of-year deadline fast approaching, the newspaper reported. However, many nurses are not happy about being forced to get the vaccine and the nurses’ union has filed a grievance protesting the policy, the Daily News reported. Click here to read more.

More hospitals may follow suit. BJC HealthCare, a 13-hospital system based in St. Louis, this year became the nation’s first multihospital system to require flu vaccinations as a condition of employment for its more than 26,000 employees.

Kurt, Carolyn, and Little Kurt

Toledo, Ohio

visit http://www.asno.org