If this were the nurse giving out flu shots in my hospital I would definitely go running in the other direction. Quickly. Actually, I am the nurse giving flu shots this year, and many look at me as if I were an evil Zombie Nurse, arriving to inject deadly poison into their deltoid, against their will.

I have to say it’s not a bad gig at all. I show up at 7 AM and report to the Shift Coordinator. Then I grab my bag of supplies and make my way around the hospital. I start with the ER since they supposedly are slow at 7 AM. Then I make my rounds to each and every unit. The first thing I do is find the charge nurse and let her know what I am doing. Then I ask the unit clerk to make an announcement, “Nurse Beth is in the break room giving out flu shots!” The reactions I get are funny. Some people avoid me like the plague. Some people give me dirty looks. On the other hand, some people march right up to me and start rolling up their sleeve to expose their deltoid, and say “Oh great – I need one!” Some people say, “Thank you so much for doing this!” (And then I wonder if they realize that I’m actually getting paid for this.)

You have to admit, it is kind of convenient. Door to door flu shots.

I do get a little tired of the “Oh no – the flu shot makes me sick!” I don’t force the issue too much, though, because I understand where they are coming from. I got mine on Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon I was feeling a bit achy and flu-ish, if you will, but that went away after a good night’s sleep. The Shift Coordinator would like me to be a lot more aggressive. If she had her way I would be grabbing people and holding them down, kicking and screaming, injecting them whether they like it or not. My style is more like, I’ll tell you the facts and you can make up your own mind. The CDC has a page called, “Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine,” if you are interested.

Zombie Nurse Hetti appears courtesy of Nattystuff’s shop at Etsy.com. She would make a nice Halloween present, wouldn’t she?