FLU SEASON IS UPON US!



BE A HERO - Get your Flu vaccination today!

Flu season is here! “Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and influenza infection can affect people differently. Even healthy people can get very sick from the flu and spread it to others.” [Ref 1]

Immunization with the flu vaccine is the best way to prevent influenza infection. Patients give many reasons for not getting their annual flu shot, including: “It causes the flu"; "I don’t need it"; "It has side effects"; "It’s not effective"; "I didn’t think about it"; "I don’t like needles!” 

“Annual vaccination is the most important measure to prevent seasonal influenza infection. Achieving high influenza vaccination rates of healthcare professionals and patients is a critical step in preventing healthcare transmission of influenza...” [Ref 2]

The fact is that every year up to 49,000 Americans die from influenza infection and over 200,000 are admitted to a hospital for flu related disease. Greater than 90 percent of these deaths occur in individuals 65 years of age and older. You can help your patients overcome these odds and their personal barriers through patient education.

Talk with your patients about the importance of getting annual flu vaccination--and don’t forget to immunize yourself and your staff.

Protect yourself, your patients, your family and friends.


Get Your Flu Shot – Not the Flu


Ref 1: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm
Ref 2: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prevent Blood Clots

Prevent Venous Thromboembolism: One of our goals is to eliminate preventable deep vein thrombosis [DVT] and pulmonary embolism [PE], collectively known as venous thromboembolism (VTE) and commonly called "blood clots."  Two million patients are diagnosed with DVT every year in the US. Up to half of these patients may not have symptoms until PE develops. There are 200,000 deaths annually due to PE. Our goal is to deliver appropriate VTE prophylaxis [prevention] to all of our patients: The first step is assessing a patient's risk of developing VTE. There are many tools available to do this. The one I like was developed by Dr Caprini and published in 2005. Risk assessment should be done at every physician visit especially if the patient's mobility is decreasing or other co-morbidities have developed. Once risk has been assessed, a plan including appropriate therapy to prevent VTE should be developed with the patient.   Most hospitalized patients will pr
Read more

Bad outcomes: Bad Doctors? Bad Nurses? Or bad systems?

How many have suffered with a loved one over a poor healthcare outcome? The last time you were admitted to the hospital was the care what you expected? Were you satisfied? Are you the pilot of your own health? Or the passenger in a sinking ship? Those who have studied patient safety understand that humans will make mistakes. The secret to success involves protecting patients from those mistakes and preventing harm. Do good nurses make good hospitals? ...or is it the other way around? Please post your responses and open our dialogue...Thank you.
Read more

Quality Medical Care

What is quality medical care? How will I know if I am getting great care or not? We hope to answer some of these questions for you here. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we try to help you figure out what is quality and what isn't!
Read more