Peru and TB

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello, I recently went to Peru and got to shadow a nurse down there. It was a great experience except they hardly use and contact or airborne precautions. When I got back I was having a TB test done for a new job and I told them about my trip. Since TB may not show up for up to three months after exposer they recommended that I come back in three months to have another test. My question is more of if they can prevent me from starting work if there is a slight possibility that I may have been exposed?

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Unless you are already employed and in a union, yes of course they can choose to not continue with the hiring process. As I understand it, you are not yet working for them. The initial hiring process can be interrupted/derailed at any point for any number of reasons.

P.S. It's "exposure" not exposer. The exposer would be the person who exposed you to TB.

As one infectious disease doc told me, anybody who rides public transportation will have a positive TB test. This means that if you breathe air with enough people, it's a pretty safe bet that you will, eventually, inhale the tuberculosis bacillus, and if you have a normal immune system, you will make antibodies for it, the evidence for which is the positive skin test.

I agree you have to wait for the recommended time to have it done, but even if it is positive then, remember that. A positive skin test alone will not likely be determinative for a hiring decision, else half the nursing staff in city hospitals would be out of work.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

A positive PPD test is not an automatic disqualifier for employment. Should you test positive, they will often order an x-ray (or have you bring a copy of the results if you had had one already) to see if you have active TB. I know/work with several nurses who have positive PPDs.

Best of luck on both counts.

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