ARM DAY?

With flu/COVID shot season upon us, be ready for this question!

Click here for previous newsletters.

1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "I should probably rest my arm after my flu shot, right?"

Concise Conclusion: While avoiding strenuous activity that makes use of the shoulder is likely wise, resting it is not ideal. Keep the shoulder active, and you can also use a cold compress to help with redness/inflammation.

Quick Wrap-up: Remind patients not to pre-medicate with analgesics, as this theoretically could affect vaccine response. Don't panic if they already did though, as it's unlikely to outweigh the benefit of receiving the vaccine on time.

Dive Deeper

1) https://www.merle-arbeitsmedizin.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CDC-Pink-Book-Version-14th-Edition.pdf

We hope you have found this useful. A reply to this email with any feedback or topic suggestion you may have would be greatly appreciated. Your input will be the key to making this newsletter the best it can be.