This also applies to employees who do not have direct patient contact, such as administrative and facilities maintenance staff. Rubella vaccination or laboratory evidence of immunity to rubella is especially important for female workers born before 1957 who can become pregnant. All employees should ensure that they are immune to varicella. Health care workers who have potential exposure to blood and body fluids should be immune to hepatitis B. Health care workers should also be vaccinated against influenza every fall. AND it protects high-risk patients from exposure to influenza from infected health care workers.
Longer needles hurt less.
The investigators also found that the initial rate of swelling in the longer needle group was about a third of that in the shorter needle group. On average, for every five infants vaccinated, use of the longer needle instead of the shorter needle would prevent one infant from experiencing any local reaction. The volume of vaccine, patient age, and muscle size are also important determinants. Providers may be reassured that using a longer needle for IM injections will be less painful for their patients AND be more effective in producing an immunogenic response. Needle length on some pre-filled syringes may not be long enough for an injection to be deposited into the muscle of larger people.