How Bad Is the Flu Right Now, and Should Nurses Get Vaccinated?

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

The news has been full of reports about the influenza outbreak, deaths from complications, and shortages of vaccine and antivirals. Is the flu season as bad as purported, or are we experiencing media hype? Nurses are frequently asked for information by family, friends, and neighbors (and strangers—I was in a restaurant once and a diner at a nearby table, having overheard my conversation with a colleague, leaned over and asked if he could ask me a health question!), so here’s the latest information.

WeekEndingJanuary5FluView Week ending 1/5/2013; brown indicates states w/ widespread flu activity. CDC

According to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report for the week ending January 5, epidemiologists from all states except three reported (see map) widespread “influenza-like illness” (ILI, meaning fever and cough or sore throat). California and Mississippi reported regional activity and Hawaii reported sporadic activity. The District of Columbia reported local spread. And while officials in some cities and states declared public health emergencies, the CDC notes that “influenza activity remained elevated in the U.S., but may be decreasing in some areas.”

One of the indicators is the proportion of people seeking treatment for ILI. Thus far, that number has risen as high as 6.0%, but has since fallen to 4.3%, as of January 5. In prior years deemed as moderately severe flu seasons, that indicator rose as high as 7.6%.

So in terms of history, we’re […]

Marketers Honing In On Online Nurses

Internet Splat Map (jurvetson/via Flickr)

Nurses, you’re being watched: a marketing Website has an article on the growing influence of nurses online. Let us know what you think. Here’s an excerpt:

. . . Manhattan Research recently released a report about nurses online noting that approximately three out of four U.S. nurses recommend health websites to patients. The study notes that the average nurse spends eight hours per week online for professional purposes, which is just as much time as physicians, and almost all of them use the Internet in between patient consultations. Nurses are also proactive in researching medical product information specifically online – over eighty percent have visited a pharma, biotech, or device company website in the past year.

In addition to the prevalence of the Internet as a research and patient communication tool, nurses are continuing to find their unique voices online through a growing number of prominent nursing blogs such as Codeblog and Emergiblog which both share powerful stories of healthcare from the nurses’ point of view.

Also found today on the Web: […]

Mandating Flu Vaccines for Nurses

By Diana J. Mason, RN, PhD, editor-in-chief emeritus

Yesterday, nurses and other health care workers from New York State went to the state capitol in Albany to protest a regulation issued by the New York State Department of Health mandating that all health care workers get vaccinated for both the seasonal flu and for the pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza by November 30th or lose their jobs. Deborah Gerhardt, RN, who was interviewed by USA Today, says she may have to lose her job because she doesn’t have confidence in the safety of the new H1N1 vaccine: “Just because the FDA approved the H1N1 vaccine ‘doesn’t mean it’s safe in my book.'”

mandatingflushotsNew York State Commissioner of Health Richard Daines, MD, disagrees, and followed up an open letter to health care workers released on September 24th with a press conference to defend the new policy. The New York State Nurses Association, which urges nurses to get vaccinated but is against mandatory vaccinations, wrote their own open letter in response.

Citing one study of health care workers during a mild flu season that showed that 23% of the workers showed evidence of having had the flu that season but that 59% of these said they didn’t have the flu that year, Daines said that his concern is that workers are carrying the virus and exposing at-risk patients without realizing it. When challenged on whether family members and other visitors represent an equally great threat to patient […]

Vaccine Wars Ensue as H1N1 Mutates – Just Alarmist Sci-Fi Fantasy?

Picture this: in early September of this year, the novel H1N1 influenza virus mutates into a strain that can quickly lead to wracking fevers, violent vomiting, respiratory failure, dehydration, and death. It is also highly resistant to existing antiviral agents. The first cases of this new strain are identified after a spate of deaths in a Kansas City nursing home as well as among members of a church choir in the same city. The new strain quickly shows up in a number of major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and then in several European countries. As hospitals are swamped and the number of deaths rises unabated, borders are sealed between countries—but it's too late to stop the new strain from spreading as the fall and winter flu season gets into full swing.

Go to Top