Disease Prevention: The Importance of Vaccines
Support of Topic
Vaccines are a vital component to protecting children that can't protect themselves from infectious diseases. More importantly they protect healthy individuals from attracting a potentially fatal disease in the first place. They are a form of health promotion and therefore prevent an individual from attracting some type of disease due to exposure. This is where nurses come in, they are the forefront and advocate for patients. Nurses should be educating these patients about the importance of vaccines and how they can protect individuals before they become infected patients. Healthy people 2020 goal is to increase immunization rates and reduce preventable infectious diseases. This teaching will be a step forward in the right direction to achieving those goals.
Learning need of patient
The patient is a 32 year old female, who just delivered a baby girl. For the sake of patient privacy we will refer to her as Jane. We will refer to the student nurse as Morgan. Jane delivered a baby girl at 40 weeks, the baby and the mother were happy and healthy.
Morgan gave Jane a pre-test with questions about vaccines, primarily ones that are the most common myths circulating around them. Such as: the type of side effects that occur after, whether or not vaccines cause autism, the debate between if vaccinating protects other children who are too young or sick to be vaccinated themselves, along with other topics that we will delve more into depth further on. After the patient had taken the pre-test, the student nurse assessed the amount of education the patient would require. Jane got 4 out of the 5 questions incorrect. After looking at her results, Morgan decided to focus in on her teaching to those 4 vital questions. After the teaching, the patient will take a post-test and the student nurse will evaluate whether the teaching was effective.
Client Centered Behavioral Objectives
There are three measurable client-centered outcomes for the end of the teaching session. They are as followed:
1. Verbalize the importance of vaccinations and acknowledge at least 3 benefits to getting them.
2. Understand that most diseases can be prevented by getting vaccinated.
3. Recognize that 42,000 adults and 300 children in the US die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.
To achieve these objectives the student nurse plans to have a pre-test followed by an engaging conversation on both ends. It will involve the student nurse educating the patient and leaving the opportunity for questions or concerns the patient may have. After the conversation with the patient, Morgan will provide a short but precise fact sheet summarizing the important topics that were discussed in case the patient is a visual learner. Finally after the patient reads over the fact sheet, she will take a post test. If the patient is able to verbalize 3 benefits of getting vaccinated after she takes the post test, it will be determined that the teaching was effective.
Description of teaching
The student nurse taught a 32 year old post-partum patient on the importance of vaccinations for her newborn as well as for herself. Getting the scheduled vaccinations as a child have ultimately led to a 96-100% decline rate for mortality in the United States. Recently, due to myths circulating about vaccines causing Autism, many people have been starting to refuse the need for vaccines. The effect of the decline in vaccination rates has led to outbreaks of measles across the United States and Europe, a disease that was once under control. This disease is vaccine preventable, so it is important that nurses and health care providers are educating patients about the importance of getting vaccinated.(Weiner, J. L, 2015) The study that was conducted by Andrew Wake that is causing people to believe this link between autism and vaccines was dishonest. They did studies surrounding his assumptions and it was later proven through scientific research that autism does not in fact cause autism. (CHOP 2016) Medical providers of all fields should make it a priority to provide these patients with the right education to ensure them that there are no known links between the two.
Some parents are wary of the effects a vaccine could have on their newborn baby. "Will the vaccine hurt my baby, he or she is so little and I don't think she will be able to handle it". The nurse or doctor should educate the patient that babies encounter much worse than a vaccine. When the baby is in the mothers womb, it is extremely sterile and isn't exposed to any microbes. Although when a baby is delivered it becomes exposed to all of these things. According to CHOP, "when babies leave the womb and enter the world, they are immediately colonized by trillions of bacteria that live on the linings of their nose, throat, skin and intestines. Each bacterium contains between 2,000 and 6,000 immunological components. And babies often make an immune response to these bacteria to prevent them from entering the bloodstream and causing harm. The challenge that vaccines present is tiny in comparison to that from the environment". (CHOP 2016) Therefore, by vaccinating your child you are protecting the baby for when and if he or she is ever exposed to a vaccine preventable disease.
Immunization schedules are important for patients to understand and stay on top of, during early childhood you will build up your immune system and the way it responds to certain diseases. The schedule will help to build the child's immune system and make it stronger.(NEA 2011) The student nurse referenced an individual trying to gain muscle as an example to the Hepatitis B vaccine in relation to the immune system. When someone is trying to gain muscle, it doesn't just magically happen, you have to keep building your muscles by lifting certain weights and increasing the weight to eventually get the desired muscle strength. The same occurs for vaccines, particularly those that require multiple doses, one of those being Hepatitis B given at birth subsequently following two more separate doses.
The student nurse had an engaging conversation with the patient because she believed that's how the patient would be most comfortable and learn the material best. By providing her with a fact sheet the patient was able to visualize what the student nurse was talking about. It also provided the patient with resources she could go to with any additional concerns she may have.(Appendix C) The pre-tests would provide a preview of what was to be talked about and have the patient pre-exposed and thinking. The post-test would reintroduce the topics that were discussed and would provide the patient with another exposure of the material. (Appendix A and B) The student nurse believed the teaching would be most successful this way because it was exposing the patient to the material multiple times, increasing the chances for the patient to retain and understand it.
Evaluation
After the teaching the patient verbalized 2 benefits of being vaccinated: "It protects those that are unable to get vaccinated due to being immunocompromised and it makes their own immune system to be stronger." The patient exhibited the understanding that most diseases can be prevented by getting vaccinated via getting the questions correct on the post-test. Although stated in the objectives that the student nurse wanted the patient to verbalize three benefits, you also have to take in account the patients fatigue, pain, and emotions. One variable that could have had an impact on the patients answers was that she was given pain meds prior to the teaching which could have impacted the keenness of her brain. The third objective was to recognize that 42,000 adults and 300 children in the US die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. The student didn't mention this objective because she didn't find it of high importance in relation to the other information being provided.
Before the teaching the patient had stated that she was hesitant whether she was going to receive the flu shot or not. Due to the effectiveness of the teaching, the patient decided to receive the flu vaccination and verbalized she will be making sure her newborn receives all the scheduled vaccines necessary.
Improvements to be made: avoid teaching the patient after she has been administered pain meds. In summation the teaching was effective and the patient was compliant.