[MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Physician Fitness for Duty

[Ann Teng]

Hello,

In the event that there is no individualized plan for the hospital or the
work place that I am doing the Fitness for duty for, I will generally
consult a national standard representing that of the profession.   For
example NFPA for firefighter, MEPS for military etc.   I attached the FSMB
hyperlink for you to review.  Perhaps this can offer some guidance.  Good
Luck!

https://www.fsmb.org/siteassets/advocacy/policies/physician-impairment.pdf

Ann


On Tue, Dec 10, 2019 at 2:38 PM Deborah a Sampson via MCOH-EH <
mcoh-eh at mylist.net> wrote:

> Hello Mona,
>
>
>
> A facility where I worked was in this very same situation with a surgeon
> several years ago.
>
>
>
> Because physicians had no job descriptions, it was very difficult to have
> ‘fitness for duty’ evaluation criteria that fit state and federal
> employment and anti discrimination/reasonable accommodations law.  After
> meeting with the physician, who had a myriad of significant health
> concerns, and consulting our facility attorneys, we had few options but to
> allow the physician to continue work. This physician worked weekends only
> (24 hour on call shifts on both Saturday and Sunday) weekly because he
> didn’t want to give up being a surgeon and the Chief of Surgery said that
> no other surgeons wanted to take weekend call….
>
>
>
> It was not until the physician collapsed at work and died ( fortunately
> without harming a patient) that HR and EH were able to convince
> administrators and physician leadership that job descriptions should be
> instituted for physicians but I am not sure it was ever done.
>
>
>
> My belief is that *anyone* working in healthcare should be able to be
> held accountable in the defined objective criteria of a well crafted job
> description. It allows greater protection for the worker, facility and,
> most importantly, patients.
>
>
>
> Good luck
>
> Deb Sampson
>
> Deborah A. Sampson, PhD, APRN FAANP
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>
>
> *From: *Teichman, Ron F <Ron.Teichman at bannerhealth.com>
> *Sent: *Tuesday, December 10, 2019 12:57 PM
> *To: *MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
> *Subject: *Re: [MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Physician Fitness for Duty
>
>
>
> My first and primary response is that I have never met an attorney that
> would rather defend a wrongful death claim due to inaction when a problem
> was known than defend a discrimination or restrained of trade when there is
> objective evidence of impairment. Therefore, move forward with the clinical
> assessment as you lay out and ignore the propensity to sue.
>
> Just MHO,
>
> Ron Teichman, MD, MPH
>
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>
>
>
> *From:* MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces at mylist.net> on behalf of Dr. Mona Khanna
> <drmona10 at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, December 3, 2019 6:23:37 PM
> *To:* mcoh-eh at mylist.net <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [MCOH-EH] Physician Fitness for Duty
>
>
>
> Greetings, Work Medicine Specialists --
>
>
>
> I have been asked to assist in determining whether a physician on hospital
> staff is too functionally impaired to perform a job as an
> interventionalist. The issues are decreased vision and tremor.
> The procedural staff has raised concerns, but in the past the physician has
> quashed them with the help of a heavyhanded attorney.
>
>
>
> We all know the usual approach to this process with regular
> hospital "employees" - obtain a job description, perform a history and
> physical exam, obtain specialist reports and then define what the
> individual can/can't do via work restrictions. How should we handle this
> when the object is a non-employee physician on staff, there is no job
> description, and there is a very low threshold for litigation?
>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
> Mona Khanna, MD
>
>
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-- 
Ann Teng, DO MPH MA
Medical Director, UHS Occupational Medicine
33 Mitchell Ave. Suite 204
Binghamton, NY 13903
(Cell) 917-560-5013
(Office) 607-762-2333
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