The disadvantages of getting your 'Flu shot' in the pharmacy if you have a primary care physician. (Ideally everyone should have one)
Ok, let’s start at the beginning.
When I have an initial visit with a newborn patient one of the first things I do is track down and document the first Hepatitis B vaccine information. This vaccine is usually given a couple of days after birth, right before discharge from the hospital and I know it will be important for that child when he or she goes to kindergarten.
Right now, it is time to get your Flu shot and I strongly recommend that everyone get one. For one thing some people are anticipating a double-barreled whammy this fall between the pandemic and a flu epidemic so this is an important year to protect yourself as much as possible.
My office will start giving flu shots by the end of next week. The larger buyers get their flu shots earlier than small practices and so the big pharmacies already have theirs.
The price for the vaccine is the same wherever you get it including the doctor’s office. If the pharmacy says you can get it for ‘free’ it is because your insurance covers it and it does not require a copay. Most insurances pay for flu shots, it’s not really ‘free’ even if you have Medicare but there is no copay. (The one exception used to be free vaccines in schools, those are funded by the board of education and I think kids should only do these as a last resort).
Have you ever wondered why your friendly pharmacist has suddenly started pushing certain vaccines really hard? They have quotas to meet!
But getting a shot at the pharmacy is not as easy as it sounds.
Why is it better to be patient and get your vaccinations in your doctor’s office? Well, here are a few reasons:
First, your doctor knows you and any special situation you may have like allergy to mercury or eggs.
She also knows what immunizations might be appropriate for individual patients and when the timing of the shot would be best.
Many patients get vaccinated when they are in the hospital but then they are not sure what they were given and the details are hard to find.
Similarly, when you get vaccinated at the pharmacy the shot does not get put in your medical chart with all the required documentation including batch numbers and expiration dates as well as the brand of vaccine. Once this is entered into your chart this information is all in one place and you can always retrieve it for years to come. Sometimes this information is required years later for college or employment. Or a hospital may call to verify you have received a certain shot.
If there is a problem with a particular batch of vaccine your doctor can contact you.
Sometimes patients say they got a ‘pneumonia shot’ at the pharmacy but they have no idea whether they got a Prevnar or a Pneumovax which is a problem.
Which one you get depends on your age and your medical conditions. If you need both you should get the Prevnar first followed by the Pneumovax 9 to 12 months later. The sequence is important. Especially if you are at high risk and due for a pneumonia shot please get it now, for obvious reasons. This vaccine is given year round.
Last but not least, pharmacists have only just begun to give vaccines, their jobs generally do not involve ‘touching’ people so many are just starting to get used to it.
In addition their shops are not necessarily equipped to handle acute reactions. For example a few years ago when the HPV vaccine was new it got halted in the UK after a 16 year old girl fainted after the shot and died. It was later determined that she fainted as a result of the shot but the cause of death was the head injury that resulted. Then use of the vaccine resumed with special precautions.
I am happy to say that a lot of changes have been made to this particular vaccine since then and it is now much safer and more effective.
What about delayed reactions, do you go back to the pharmacy and ask for the same guy? I am yet to see a patient who knows the name of the pharmacist who gave them a shot and there is no guarantee the same person will be there in 2 months. Fortunately, you do know me!
There are a couple of ‘optional ‘ shots that we don’t stock in the office but even so I like to counsel my patients about them so they can make an informed decision as to whether it is best for them or not. I’m not sure how much counseling goes on in the pharmacy. Generally they look at a chart, tell you what you should do and hand you some standard written information about the shot which you may or may not understand.
However, if you do get one of these shots in the pharmacy please bring in all the relevant information brand, batch number, expiration date to the office as soon as possible for it to be documented in your electronic medical record.
Once again I really hope everyone will get their flu shots this year even those who tell me annually “I don’t do flu shots”. Please make this year an exception, it could save your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment