You've been looking and searching, scouring websites and newspapers. You've been posting requests to friends on Facebook, dialing the phone like a mad person and finally... finally, you land the new job! It's time to break out the champagne and celebrate, right? What, not yet? There's one more thing to do? Ah, the pre employment physical exam! Don't worry about it. It's a piece of cake. You're as healthy as a mule (you smell better, but you're as healthy as one), nothing can go wrong. Right?
Well, hopefully. Assuming that you have been eating foodstuffs other than fried chicken and Slurpees your entire lifetime, all should be fine. A pre employment physical exam is a run-of-the-mill exam. Of course, the doctor will do everything in his or her power to alert you to any outstanding or newly found medical problems, but they also realize how important this test is for you. In other words, that it is this test-and at this point only this test-standing between you and a brand new, regular paycheck.
A pre employment physical exam is a set of tests and procedures that a doctor will perform by eye, hand and tool. It will be quick and easy on you-not painful-and hopefully affordable to boot. None of the tests will be invasive and you should be out the doctor's office within an hour. We've all had these exams performed on us at some point in our lives and they are nothing to worry about. Most of us have had them growing up before we were shipped off to summer camp, or perhaps before we attended a special school or program that required one. There is also the physical exam one will undergo if they join the armed forces-but that type of physical exam is different from a pre employment in several different ways.
One thing a potential employer may ask of you is that you prove to them that you are not currently partaking in any illegal drugs. In this case, the doctor will do a drug test to see if you have any non-prescription drugs in your system. When it comes to the "street drugs" testing procedures there is a standard five panel urine test that is commonly used. The drugs that this five panel test looks for are marijuana, cocaine, PCP, opiates (such as Vicodin, morphine and Oxycontin) and amphetamines. It is rather typical for a pre employment physical exam to include these tests.
Other features of a pre employment physical exam may include your medical history, your vitals (height, weight, blood pressure and temperature), vision screening, and a heart test to make sure you are as strong as that mule. (Note: one does not need to be as healthy as a beast of burden to pass a pre employment physical exam!)
Another thing a pre employment physical exam may include is your vaccination history. Many employers want to make sure that their employees are up to date with their inoculations. Many of us have already received these as children and if a booster is required can be easily provided by your medical clinic.
