Information on the Allitt Enquiry, plus other publications such as 'Are you
fit to nurse? Information for prospective nursing students about health
assessment no. 000537' are available free to RCN members if you ring RCN
Direct on 0845 772 6100 24 hours a day 365 days a year - it is best to ring
during unsociable hours. If you ask if they have any other publications on a
similar theme they will advise.
Greta Thornbory
Education & Health Care Consultant
WWW.gtenterprises-uk.com
01235 770156 phone
01235 765797 fax
07778 518 027 mobile
----- Original Message -----
From: Amanda Dowson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: Screening of nursing and midwifery students
> Catherine,
>
> It sounds like you are in the same position as we are. We are required to
> place students in hospitals as part of their course, but hospitals will
not
> accept them without them being screened. They are then charging more money
> for the screening process than the College is earning from training these
> individuals - all to "support the fabric of the society".
>
> There are specific guidelines for nurses etc. Can I suggest that you get
> hold of the occupational health department that services the hospital in
> which they are on placement. They will probably tell you what standards
they
> want them to reach. Other documents you may find useful are:
> * RCN (1995) "Health Assessment - advice for Occupational Health
> Nurses" RCN:London
> * NHS Executive (1994) "Occupational Health Services for NHS Staff"
> HSG(94)51 Health Publications Unit:Heywood
> It has been a while since I worked in the NHS, so these documents may have
> been superceded by others, but they will be a good starting point. HSE's
> MS20 on pre-employment health assessment may also help. I understand that
> this is getting rare and is difficult to get hold of. If you have a
problem,
> let me know your postal address and I will send you a copy. I am also sure
> that their will be intereptations for practice of the Reports on the
Allitt
> and Bullock enquiries but I don't have the references sorry.
>
> Please bear in mind that unless they are doing exposure prone procedures,
> they are not required to have hepatitis B immunity prior to them
commencing
> work (midwifery students are probably included in this although
> pre-registration student nurses not). This is a recommendation for their
> protection, not the patients. Here lies another problem. Uni's and
College's
> are not responsible for providing health surveillance for students under
> COSHH, although we are required to provide everything else (information,
> instruction and training, PPE etc.) (HSC "Occupational health services in
> higher education" 1991) GPs however, have been known to state that
students
> are not at risk from hepatitis B and therefore will not provide the
students
> the vaccination without a private prescription. This leaves all concerned
in
> a dilema as we obviously do not want the student to get hep B. The
> responsibility at this stage is probably going to be the discussion of a
few
> more e-mails and does need to be addressed properly and officially - Steve
> this may be an issue for the HIgher and Further Education Advisory
> Committee.
>
> Immunity to TB and rubella appear to be the main imms we need to check for
> prior to placement. YOu will need to confirm this with your hospital
> placement OH service though.
>
> As for Ht and Wt - there was an issue about whether someone could be "too
> fat to be fit" for a job involving manual handling of patients. I believe
> the individual who was refused on these grounds was taking it to court.
Can
> anyone enlighten us on the results ?
>
> Best of luck
>
> Amanda Dowson
> Health Services Manager
> Bradford College
> 01274 753058
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Cynthia Atwell [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 15 November 2001 17:34
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Screening of nursing and midwifery students
> >
> > Catherine
> >
> > I am not working in your area of work now. However, following the Allitt
> > enquiry and Bullock report I thought fitness standards had been produced
> > for
> > pre-employment assessment of student nurses and midwives? or have I got
> > this
> > wrong?
> > Information on this would be available I think though the DOH.
> >
> > Hope this helps. Cynthia Atwell
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Greta Thornbory" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 4:27 PM
> > Subject: Re: Screening of nursing and midwifery students
> >
> >
> > > 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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