Will Facts Convince Our Patients To Be Vaccinated?

Abstract

In a recent telehealth visit, a patient with multiple chronic problems asked if I thought she should be vaccinated. Vaccination was not the purpose of our visit, but my teachable moment had clearly arrived. She had barely been out of her house over the course of the year, but she was still afraid. So we went through the evidence. We looked at risk vs benefit. We talked about public health vs individual risk: all the usual arguments that a nurse practitioner (NP) would consider convincing. As nurses we are scientists, so we think a certain way and we also appreciate that our patients—with different risks and experiences—may make decisions in different ways. Donald Gardenier, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, is a nurse practitioner in clinical practice in gastroenterology at Eisenhower Health in Palm Springs, CA. He is the editor of this column and may be reached at [email protected] .