A pre-employment medical exam may be required of just about anyone in any field to ensure you are physically capable of the job, even office work. An employer may need to know if there are any risks to your health or another person's health if they were to hire you, including illnesses that may affect other employees. Those who work in dangerous conditions, such as forklift drivers, welders, and the like, may especially need to be physically fit. Note a few important questions you might have or should cover with the medical examiner when asked to take a pre-employment medical exam.
What if a person has a pre-existing injury or health condition?
It would be the rare potential employee who doesn't have some type of physical concern, whether that's high blood pressure or a previous back injury. However, a pre-employment medical exam may simply determine the best way to accommodate your condition or to ensure it doesn't interfere with certain prospective jobs. For example, a seizure disorder may be of concern for those driving a forklift but not for those working in an office. Everyday health concerns like diabetes, high blood pressure, a previous heart attack, and other similar things are not typically reasons to be excluded from a job, so a person shouldn't be overly worried about these types of conditions.
What if a person is taking medication?
Many pre-employment medical exams include testing for drugs and alcohol, and prescription medications will often show up on those tests. Your examiner will ask you to note any such medications you're taking; as long as those medications are actually prescribed by a doctor, they shouldn't be an issue with an employer when it comes to being screened for drug use.
What should be avoided before a pre-employment medical exam?
Be careful of drinking too much water before such an exam, as this can dilute the urine so a drug test cannot be performed and a sample must be recollected. You may also be asked to perform a fitness test by running on a treadmill, and having too much water in your stomach can be uncomfortable. However, there is no need to avoid taking prescription medication before an exam and it's always best to take your medication on the schedule prescribed; as mentioned above, these medications may show up in a drug test, but those results will be compared to your prescriptions so they should not pose a problem when it comes to your prospective employment.
Share24 February 2017
Hello there! Welcome to my blog. I would like to start by telling you a story about something that happened to me many years ago. I was working in Sydney at the time as an investment banker. The hours were long and I would party every weekend to de-stress. I put on a lot of weight and began to have problems sleeping. I didn't pay much attention to the problems, as I thought I was invincible. However, one day I collapsed at work. At the hospital the doctors saved my life. Since then, I have become very interested in health and medical matters.