In our Dallas hospital, all pre-employment/onboarding visits for those with patient contact or who might have exposure to blood or body fluids (BBF) receive:

1.  Basic visual acuity testing 

2. Color vision testing

3. Urine drug testing

4. Immunization updates/titers (this includes MMR, varicella, Hep B)

We do not test or ask about pre-existing infections. If there is a BBF exposure, we do Hep C, Hep B, and HIV testing on both the employee and the source and then ensure any appropriate follow-up. 

I heard some places have monitoring programs for employees with Hep C, Hep B, and HIV, where viral loads are checked regularly to ensure they would not pose a risk to patients during BBF reverse exposures. Still, we have not implemented anything like that yet. If someone has, I would also love to hear how you deal with the following:

1. Identification of these employees

2. Who makes up the committee/group in charge of meeting with these employees to ensure compliance

3. Guidance about restrictions if viral loads are not “under control.”

Jakub 

Jakub Furmaga, MD 

Medical Director of Occupational Health 

UT Southwestern 

Good afternoon everyone:

   I was wondering if any of you include Hepatitis C testing as part of your pre-employment checks for new hires !

 If you do , are you doing this across the board or only in jobs that have a much higher risk of exposure like dialysis techs !!

  Thanks so much and look forward to hearing from you! 

Enass 

--

Enass Awad A/Rahman,MD,MPH
Department of Occupational Medicine
Mercy Medical Group
3000 Q Street
Sacramento,CA,95816
Tel: 916-733-3390


"We can enrich the world if we choose to embrace our similarities; we can destroy the world if we choose to emphasize our differences."

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