hiv and employment

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Mark Conway

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Can you go into the emt feild if you have hiv?
 
No
 
Furthermore, why would you want to expose your immunocompromised self to all the buggers out there?
 
Yes. We have an EMT who is also employeed as a nurse in the ED that has HIV.
 
technically yes...jobs cant discriminate...but....
 
Yes, unfortunately I do not believe that any department would be willing to take one on due to the high risk. I could be very wrong. It would be huge risk to the pt, department, as well as the employee.

Just my opinion.

Joseph
 
I've never seen an application ask do you have HIV/AIDS? And have never heard of an employment physical asking about it.

I work in an area where a lot of people have HIV/AIDS. We actually have several clinics and housing communities where their sole purpose is to test for and help treat HIV/AIDS. Our hospital also does free HIV/AIDS testing on all patients they draw blood from if the patient says it's OK.
 
To all the people in this thread stating that it is too great a risk to our patients to have an HIV+ EMT/Paramedic ... I have to ask, are you familiar with how HIV is transmitted? What exactly is the risk here? An EMT with the flu poses a greater risk to an immunocomprimised patient than one with HIV.
 
cprted said:
To all the people in this thread stating that it is too great a risk to our patients to have an HIV+ EMT/Paramedic ... I have to ask, are you familiar with how HIV is transmitted? What exactly is the risk here? An EMT with the flu poses a greater risk to an immunocomprimised patient than one with HIV.
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I think they are not stating the provider will be a risk to the patient but vice versa. It's probably not the smartest idea to put a provider who is immunocompromised with sick patients
 
As a paramedic, I don't care if my partner has HIV. I'm not going to be having sex with them or trading blood or needles. However, I think that the potential risks to that EMT or paramedic from the environment we work in are remarkably high and place both our patients and them at risk.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
I've never seen an application ask do you have HIV/AIDS? And have never heard of an employment physical asking about it.
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Unless you are taking a contractor job overseas as you must be tested for HIV and you are DQ'd if positive. And if you test positive for it after deployment, you are sent home.
 
HIV is not AIDS and does not necessarily involve immunocompromise.
 
My last service had a pre-employment physical which included blood testing. HIV was a DQ.
 
Both hospitals I have worked at it was a dq. It was tested for prior to hire along with the normal blood tests.
 
i never understood why jobs needed a blood test...just seems invasive
 
Angel said:
i never understood why jobs needed a blood test...just seems invasive
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It also protects you !!!

Let's say you contract Hepatitis C...do you know how long it could remain undetected? Decades! Many of the older generation folks who worked early on in the pre-PPE days are battling this. How can you claim work related illness if you cannot prove when you got it?

Bloodwork establishes a base line...it says on this date you did NOT have X, Y or Z. If you contract those later, it possibly could have been a result of your work. Very important when you are needing expensive medications, treatments or whatever...
 
^^^ Very important baseline, especially for needlesticks. The agency wants to be sure you're not infected with HIV or Hep before you come to work...
 
But then why is HIV a DQ? If you already have DQ, then the company doesn't have to pay for your treatments but I don't understand why you are not allowed to work because of it?
 
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