KPLU Local News
(2010-11-09)
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Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center was the first to require workers to have flu shots - or wear a surgical mask if they refused. As a result, staff immunization rates increased. Other hospitals In Washington have followed suit, and now the state leads the nation in the percentage of hospital workers who are immunized.
Gary Davis/KPLU.
(KPLU) -
Nearly every hospital in Washington has now adopted a mandatory flu-shot policy for hospital workers. That makes Washington the first state in the nation where nearly every hospital employee will be immunized.
You might think hospitals already did this - protecting all their patients from getting the flu. But, it's been up to each individual nurse, doctor or technician. That began to change five years ago at Seattle's Virginia Mason Hospital. They adopted a policy that said workers had to either get a flu shot or wear a mask during flu season. The union representing nurses sued, and won, saying it's an unfair imposition. They eventually negotiated a compromise. Nearly everyone -- 98% of staff -- were immunized last year, with just a few choosing to wear a mask.
"We all saw what happened at Virginia Mason, and how dramatically they were able to increase their flu immunization rates," says Cassie Sauer of the Washington State Hospital Association.
Two other hospitals -- Multicare in Tacoma and Yakima Valley Memorial -- adopted mandatory flu shots last winter, during the h1n1 scare.
Then, a bill to make this policy a state law failed in the legislature. So, the hospital association decided this summer to make it a campaign. Now, 94 out of 98 hospitals in the state have signed on, with four tiny rural hospitals still waiting to make the transition. Sauer says it represents a better understanding of what's at stake.
"When you think about people who have compromised immune systems, premature babies, and elderly people, that's who's in the hospital these days," she says. "We need to do all we can to make sure that we are making them get better, not worse."
The Washington State Nurses Association says in a written statement that it supports flu vaccination, but still opposes making it mandatory. The union prefers a broader approach, including screening hospital visitors.
Flu season typically starts in early winter and peaks after the New Year.
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