Pre-employment Medical test, Employee medical check up

Pre-employment medical test.

You just got your dream job! Congratulations! But your are scared. Your employer/company has invited you to come for medicals/medical examination/pre-employment health checkup. You think you might fail the medicals. Don’t be.

Pre-employment medical checkup/examination also known as pre-placement medical checkup or simply medicals is an objective way of assessing your fitness or preparedness for a job. It informs your company of your present health status and well-being.

Benefits of pre-employment medical test

• It helps know your baseline health status for which your future health status will be compared.
• It helps manage risks at workplace.
• It serves legal purposes for both you and your employer.
• It helps in jobs placement. Pre-employment medical test helps your employer place you in the job/department most suitable for you.
• It ascertains your efficiency and productivity.
• It builds confidence.

Pre-employment medical checkup list entails:

• Psychological evaluation/Mental Health Assessment/ Assessment of your Emotional Intelligence. This is a new requirement from the employers of labour. Pilots, Cabin crew, bankers, doctors and nurses must undergo this evaluation.
• Physical Examination- checks for physical deformities or injuries, motor function and reflexes. A requirement for footballers.
• Medical tests which may include blood tests, urine tests, and radiological tests like chest X-ray.
• Audiometry- hearing loss testing.
• Spirometry-screening for lung function.
• Chest X -ray
• Kidney function test
• ECG (checks heart function) especially for sports men and women (footballers)
• Lipid profile
• Urinalysis- urine checked for sugar, blood, or drugs
• Liver function test
• Blood Sugar Test (fasting blood sugar)- diabetes screening
• Blood Group and Rhesus Factor
• Genotype
• Stool test
• Optional tests like HIV and Hepatitis B. This tests are however mandatory for health workers such as doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists. In Nigeria, HIV test is no longer a pre-condition for employment as it is now against the law.
• Blood screening for drugs and alcohol.
• Eye test/Visual acuity especially for drivers
• Manual handling test
• Weight and Height (body mass index) especially for security forces.
• Blood pressure check
• Fitness test
• MRI (very rare)
• Pregnancy Test for women of reproductive age.
• Thyroid function test
• Tuberculosis screening

Please note that various institution requires different medical tests. Requirements for medical tests for the health sector, aviation sector, security, banking sector, and the construction sector are different.

What if you fail medicals?

It is not uncommon for candidates to be concerned they wont’t “get through” the pre-employment medical tests because of a previous injury, a medical problem or just anxiety.

Employers cannot, and do not, exclude people because of this. An employer cannot refuse to employ a person on the basis of a medical test that discloses a disability which will not affect your performance at the job.

Depending on the the results of the test, an employer may need to consider making reasonable adjustments to workplace to support you to do the job.

For example, if you have been employed as a cashier in a bank and during the medicals, you were found to have a hearing loss, your employer can re-deploy you to the bulk room where you will have minimal contacts with customers.

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