Hi,

My paranoia is getting the best of me, so I just have to ask this question. I recently accepted a position in the NICU and have my pre-employment physical coming up. Is this physical any different for NICU nurses? I know I'll be working with an extremely vulnerable population and I'm paranoid about being swabbed for MRSA and/or getting a positive TB skin test.

The hospital I am doing my clinicals has a large number of TB patients on the unit I work on. For example, a patient was living with her sister (who has active TB) and came in coughing up bloody sputum, SOB, and had a lung abscess on x-ray. She was placed in a regular room, not even on rule-out TB precautions. I asked the charge nurse about it and she told me not to worry about it. Sure enough, she had active TB.

I am an inherent worrier and I feel like this job is too good to be true..I already did a search and never saw anything about a physical for NICU nurses in particular. Just curious if it's the standard one, or if they have any extra elements for this area.

Thanks in advance.

they now make all nurses take a pre-employment physical no matter what area you work in at most hospitals. It is standard, and required for hire. Very easy, nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by CrxTech

Hi,

My paranoia is getting the best of me, so I just have to ask this question. I recently accepted a position in the NICU and have my pre-employment physical coming up. Is this physical any different for NICU nurses? I know I'll be working with an extremely vulnerable population and I'm paranoid about being swabbed for MRSA and/or getting a positive TB skin test.

The hospital I am doing my clinicals has a large number of TB patients on the unit I work on. For example, a patient was living with her sister (who has active TB) and came in coughing up bloody sputum, SOB, and had a lung abscess on x-ray. She was placed in a regular room, not even on rule-out TB precautions. I asked the charge nurse about it and she told me not to worry about it. Sure enough, she had active TB.

I am an inherent worrier and I feel like this job is too good to be true..I already did a search and never saw anything about a physical for NICU nurses in particular. Just curious if it's the standard one, or if they have any extra elements for this area.

Thanks in advance.

since you know you have been exposed to active TB i would expect your current employer to be doing PPDs on all exposed persons.....if they havent offered i would go to employee health and demand it....then, if necessary you can get started on the meds.....and your employer was unbelievably stupid in not putting that person on precautions!!