TB Skin test question

[new_worker]

Hello I have a question that just came to my mind and i wanted to hear what you all think about this

For the TB Skin test that we are all needed to take.. if someone would be tested positive (meaning they have been exposed to the tb but do not show any S&S of it) could that hurt someones chance of being hired?

might get mixed reviews so lets see what you all think :)

[Rookie12]

i believe that would be illegal...plus if you are at the TB test stage, then you should have already been hired, don't think they TB test you as a pre-qualification. But who knows, i've heard of shadier things!

[steelcityrn, RN]

I would say it would depend on the employer. They may just not want to deal with it and consider another applicant.

[RadBSN]

One would hope not. I would think that a health-care employer should know that once you test positive for TB you always test positive. They should have protocols in place to deal with it. I know health-care workers who have tested positive for TB and gone through the antibiotic regimen to eradicate their latent TB, it would be discriminatory not to hire them. It would be like not hiring someone because they had chicken pox scars! (okay, not quite, but you get my point)

As others have said, I've never heard of a TB test being given as part of the interview process.

[lillymom]

I don't think they can discriminate based on the test. We have to have one every year and if anyone comes up positive we have to do the treatment. We have quite a few pt's that have positive TB tests, we test regularly due to the meds we use. It's not usually an issue just get a chest x-ray and meds and then your considered safe.

[snuggles49]

my facility is seriously considering not doing routine tb test with employees

(acute Care rural hospital)

[217shana]

Once you have a positive TB test you always considered positive. You take the medicines and you have yearly chest xrays after that or at least that's what we did at one facility I worked in. Also those that were positive did an additional screening for unexplained wt. loss, cough,night sweats, bloody sputum,etc.

[systoly]

I'm not a fan of the PPD test, because the vast majority of the time I was given one or observed others giving one, it was done wrong such as no bubble, not allowing enough time for alcohol to dry completely. I even had a DON tell me I tested positive, because of redness at the site in the absence of any induration.

I've worked with several staff members who received annual CXR due to positive PPD so I don't believe employment is in jeopardy.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

No it cannot.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

I have many staff members who were born elsewhere and had the BCG vaccine. They get a chest x ray instead of a PPD. If you test positive, you get a chest x ray. If it's clear there is no problem.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

I don't think they can discriminate based on the test. We have to have one every year and if anyone comes up positive we have to do the treatment. We have quite a few pt's that have positive TB tests, we test regularly due to the meds we use. It's not usually an issue just get a chest x-ray and meds and then your considered safe.

It is against the law in any state in the United States of America to force someone to take the treatment. If you come up positive and don't want to take the very controversial meds then a yearly chest x-ray is done along with monitoring signs for an actual TB outbreak; night sweats, unusual persistent cough, etc...

I am one whom is positive (supposedly) and I do the yearly chest. I chose not to do the meds due to the harm it can inflict on the liver and the stats to positive titer after 2 years. Since I live in Hawaii there are several other RNs whom tested positive along with me and only one chose to do the meds.