I am doing a two week stent in the ER, and yesterday I had one of the more satisfying patient encounters. A toddler came in after having a febrile seizure. By the time he got to the ER he was fine, and I began obtaining a past medical history from his mother. When I asked her if he was immunized she said no. When asked further, she said, "I don't believe in it. If I could get a doctor to tell me the truth, maybe I'd think about it." So at the end of the interview, I gave her my schpeal on immunizations, and left it at that. An hour or so later, as I was giving her discharge instructions, she said, "Can you just give him some shots before we go?" I wasn't sure if we could even give immunizations in the ER, but there was no way I was going to let this opportunity pass. We shot him up, and he is a bit safer for it. One step closer to herd immunity for all!
1 comment:
Thank YOU for keeping kids safe! Philosophically, it seems a bit unfair to me that some parents choose not to immunize their kids. It is the chic thing to do, now, like anti-establishment. Do you think there is any merit to the anecdotal autism?
Post a Comment