Dear Catherine
To re-iterate what Cynthia Atwell said the other day about screening - why
are you doing it?
Firstly: should university students be screened by OH? - there should be a
student health centre. They are not 'at work' so they are not part of
'occupational health.
Secondly: what does this screening of ht/wt etc tell you? You are right, it
is costly and for what? It would be cheaper to ask their own GP to give a
report on the state of their health and their suitability to undertake a
higher education course, highlighting any special hazards they may encounter
as students e.g. working a laboratory. Then, if their course has a special
requirement, such as chemical handling, then the University should have a
COSHH policy which outlines the health surveillance required by those who
handle such things. It cannot be done alone and needs human
resources/personnel involved in developing policies which are safe for the
staff as well as the students. This will include the policy on vaccination
status and how this is addressed and is not necessarily confidential
information.
Thirdly: with regard to the students from abroad there is a public health
issue here which should be addressed by the public health physician.
Hope this helps, I must say I am surprised by the number of people who are
still religiously carrying out programmes which include the routine height;
weight; urinalysis and one off, opportunistic blood pressure when research
has shown that this is not a cost effective or worthwhile exercise, in fact,
it can be quite the opposite for people who are put under stress by a
slightly abnormal result and all that entails of waiting to get an
appointment to see a GP etc. The research for my masters dissertation 10
years ago showed the amount of indiscriminate screening going on and yet
there is so much research into screening that says 'think about what you are
doing'.
Greta Thornbory
Education & Health Care Consultant
01235 770156 phone
01235 765797 fax
07778 518 027 mobile
----- Original Message -----
From: Catherine Paget <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 1:17 PM
Subject: Screening of nursing and midwifery students
> I am responsible for the health screening of all prospective nursing and
> midwifery students within Anglia Polytechnic University and would be very
> interested to hear from others involved in screening this group and of
your
> screening procedures.
> At APU all students are seen individually by our OH Screening nurse who
> after reviewing their questionnaire performs basic screening tests ie BP,
> Pulse, Ht, Wt, Keystone vision screening & Urinalysis. Not only is this
> costly but is also very time consuming and I see little relevance in it.I
> am anxious to streamline this process and believe we should just be
> reviewing their questionnaires and vaccination history.
> We request all prospective students provide us with HBsAg & Rubella blood
> test results, and VZV in the absence of a history of chickenpox.
> I have recently been told that we should now be referring all students
> arriving from countries where there is a high prevalence of TB for chest
X-
> rays. We currently follow BTS guidelines and refer those with Heaf Grades
> 3 & 4 for further assessment.
> I would be very grateful if you could spare the time to tell me your
> screening procedures and of your opinions as to what we should be
screening
> these students for.
> Thank you.
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