The original poster was rather vague in her original question. I sense
there's a lot more to it than was posted. I agree with you regarding
colonization. However, if the prospective employee has an open
non-healing wound that's a different ball game entirely. If this person
would be hired in a food-handling situation it would make a much bigger
difference than if they were going to be sitting at a desk or becoming a
night watchman. It also depends on whether they're meeting the public,
and how intimately they're interacting with others. Are they a nurse?
Are they a massage therapist? Are they a waiter/waitress? A teacher?
I still think that if the person were just released from a hospital, or
had chronic non-healing wounds, a doctor's release would be necessary in
the case of MRSA. C. diff. is an entirely different issue. People have
diarrhea at work from various causes probably all the time. Where do you
draw the line?
Veronica, could you be more specific in your original question? What
type of position would this person be hired into?
Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology
"John Gentile" <yjgent at cox.net> wrote in message
news:2006011821273316807%yjgent at coxnet...
> I don't quite agree with that assessment. I suppose that since I've
> worked in an environment (a VA Hospital) that is loaded with MRSA I am
> probably colonized with it. I've never took a screening culture to
> verify. There are many deadly organisms that people can carry in their
> bodies without ever getting sick. The presence of a germ without
> illness should never be a criteria for hire. If someone is known to
> carry an organism such as MRSA, C. difficile, VRE they need to pay
> closer attention to personal hygiene and wash their hands more
> frequently and maybe wear a mask for high risk patients.
