The Importance of Immunizations For Healthcare Workers
When you work in health care, you are more likely than the average person to be exposed to diseases, but many are preventable if you get the necessary vaccines.
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, so it’s a great time to make sure you’re up to date on all your vaccines. In fact, if you’re a healthcare worker, your employer may require it.
Here’s why it’s so important to have proper immunization when you work in health care.
You Can Protect Yourself From Disease
Whether you work directly with patients or in a lab, you may be exposed to contagious illnesses like chicken pox, measles, and Hepatitis B. You may also come in contact with bodily fluids like saliva and blood that can spread disease. In order to protect yourself from illness, it’s a good idea to get the necessary immunizations.
You Can Prevent The Spread of Disease to Others
When you have up-to-date vaccinations, in addition to keeping yourself healthy, you do your part to prevent the spread of disease to others. Without the proper vaccines, you could infect others before you even know you have an illness. When immunization protects you, it means that you help keep your family, friends, co-workers and other patients safe too because you don’t spread it.
Your Medical Practice Can Operate Smoothly
The impact of your immunization goes farther than you might think! The less you get sick, the less you have to miss work, and the less you miss work, the better your office can operate. This all means that you and your co-workers can do a better job of effectively caring for patients, which in turn, also helps your medical practice be the place patients want to go when they need care.
What Immunizations Should You Get?
Here are the vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you get if you work in health care:
- Hepatitis B
- Influenza (the flu)
- Measles
- Mumps
- Rubella
- Varicella
It depends on your specific healthcare facility and what types of illnesses are treated there, but additional vaccinations may be required or suggested.
How Do You Know If You Work Somewhere That Vaccines Are Suggested?
If you work in health care, your employer probably has vaccine requirements you’ll be aware of. The CDC recommends that any facility that provides patient care should have an immunization policy in place. You should have up-to-date vaccines if you work in a hospital, health department, doctor’s office, nursing home, and laboratory or in a health care-related job in a school.
If you’re interested in a career that lets you care for others and help prevent the spread of diseases, check out the variety of healthcare programs at Charter College. With flexible schedules and online programs, we just might offer the right one for you!