is this true??

[popolus]

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I have been told that certain schools will do a fingerprint background check before you can start clinicals, has anyone had this experience, what schools do this? It seems like such an invasion of privacy

 

[Southpawz]

Well, the ones here in Ireland do no such thing if that helps you out.

 

[Wednesday]

At our school some of the clinical sites have started doing this. I think it's for the safety of the patients.

 

[Perrin]

Hell, they did a fingerprint background check after I finished my interviews. They sent me a little letter to say I passed the check. It scared the hell out of me cause I thought the little envelope meant I had been rejected.

 

[popolus]

Hell, they did a fingerprint background check after I finished my interviews. They sent me a little letter to say I passed the check. It scared the hell out of me cause I thought the little envelope meant I had been rejected.

where was this?

 

[Gimlet]

where was this?

We have to have a background check before 3rd year, but no fingerprints involved...just our Social Security Number.

 

[subtle1epiphany]

We have to have a background check before 3rd year, but no fingerprints involved...just our Social Security Number.

Well, they fingerprint you before you sit for the MCAT, they'll likely do it for the boards as well. You have to be on file to be an EMT, a physician should be as well.
Just wait until they implement the tox-screen at your clinical sites, they've started in Michigan. And this you have to pay for out of pocket, no fin aid there... 👎

 

[hakksar]

JCAHO is requiring criminal background checks for everyone working in the hospital including medical students. If your schools are not doing this now they will be soon since any Hospital which loses its JCAHO accreditation becomes ineligible to receive Medicare funding including the Medicare funding which pays for a lot of residency programs. Not sure if all require a fingerprint or not (but they do require a criminal background check).

 

[Adcadet]

Well, they fingerprint you before you sit for the MCAT, they'll likely do it for the boards as well. You have to be on file to be an EMT, a physician should be as well.

I've had to fill out a crimial background check form every year in medical school (had to do one during orientation before MS1 even). But unless I'm suppressing some memories, I was not fingerprinted during the USMLE Step 1, which surprized me.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

JCAHO is requiring criminal background checks for everyone working in the hospital including medical students. If your schools are not doing this now they will be soon since any Hospital which loses its JCAHO accreditation becomes ineligible to receive Medicare funding including the Medicare funding which pays for a lot of residency programs. Not sure if all require a fingerprint or not (but they do require a criminal background check).

Show me where it's in the JCAHO guidelines. I've worked in hospitals before during a JCAHO audit; I know many fulltime hospital employees in different capacities from MDs to administrators, etc, some who were responsible for preparation for the JCAHO audit. None of them have been fingerprinted and no one from JCAHO has ever asked about it. I really do not think this is true. Perhaps it is part of the regular application process but I really doubt they actually check it out, other than via references.

 

[Hurricane]

We have to get fingerprinted before we do rotations at the children's hospital here, but not at any of the adult hospitals...

 

[curlycity]

I think it's very "CYA medicine" - as in, not practical in any way, just meant to avoid a lawsuit - for hospitals to fingerprint medical students, who have already gone through so much just to get to that point, considering that literally anyone off the street can walk into any hospital room (except the ICU / surgery suites I guess) if they're determined and sneaky. The rooms aren't locked, each door isn't personally guarded, and the halls are busy. The patient in the next bed could be an axe murderer and you're left alone with them unconscious with nothing but a sheet between you. Hospitals are unbelievably non-secured environments. I don't think it's an invasion of privacy to be fingerprinted, I don't have anything to hide, but it would be nice if patients were actually safer as a result of all the expense, and they're not. I read of incidents of someone dressing up as a doctor and molesting patients a year ago at a prestigious hospital. Maybe the money spent fingerprinting li'l ol' us could be better spent installing ID checkpoints, or caffeinating the guards already in place.

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

If you rotate through a VA you'll get the fed work-up...fingerprints, huge background packet (they'll actually send something to your references), etc.

 

[Law2Doc]

...I don't think it's an invasion of privacy to be fingerprinted, I don't have anything to hide...

While I personally don't object to fingerprinting, drug tests and the like if these actions are carefully tailored to the role involved, the above is a fairly dangerous statement -- and about as contrary to the US Consitution as you can get. Most of the rights in this country were set up to provide protection for the guilty and innocent alike against potential overreaching by the government and its agencies, and thus whether you have something to hide is simply not determinative or part of the test -- it may perhaps help you decide whether or not you want to reliquish your rights voluntarilly in a given instance, but shouldn't be relevent as to whether you have the rights in the first place. The Supreme Court has long ago determined that government agencies need to demonstrate pretty significant reasons to fingerprint someone, and that the population at large cannot randomly be subjected to fingerprinting, hence it's pretty clear there is a legal right to privacy in not having this done, subject to a demonstration that it is a sociatal necessity that surpasses the individuals right (as in the case of those being fingerprinted in connection with a criminal arrest, or in connection with certain licensure). Rights are not only for those who use them wisely, and your right to privacy shouldn't depend on whether you have something to hide; in fact, you really need to exercise most rights only when your viewpoint (or action) varies from the majority. Once you go down the road of taking away rights that you aren't actually using, you very quickly end up with a totalitarian system, where there can only be one viewpoint, one set of acceptable behaviors etc. It's a very fine line you are walking (on the wrong side of).
With respect to the example you gave, unless the hospital actually intends to have someone check fingerprints whenever you enter the door (which would pretty much be equivalent security to the Pentagon, which I can't imagine happenning nationally in various hospitals), there frankly is no added security of fingerprinting physicians, and the risks you describe will remain.

 

[kaikai128]

Show me where it's in the JCAHO guidelines. I've worked in hospitals before during a JCAHO audit; I know many fulltime hospital employees in different capacities from MDs to administrators, etc, some who were responsible for preparation for the JCAHO audit. None of them have been fingerprinted and no one from JCAHO has ever asked about it. I really do not think this is true. Perhaps it is part of the regular application process but I really doubt they actually check it out, other than via references.

FYI: Here is what the JCAHO site says on this issue: JCAHO Page

 

[Psycho Doctor]

FYI: Here is what the JCAHO site says on this issue: JCAHO Page

thanks so much. so i guess it is state dependent, and since any state i've worked in never required it, i didn't realize they ever did. thanks!

 

[Uncle_Tbag]

Sooo, what type of offenses would keep you out of clinicals and/or med-school acceptance?

I hate to admit, but about 9 years ago in college I was busted for posession of MJ, midsemeanor posession. By the time I matriculate, it will be 11 years in the past.

This is something that weighs heavily on my mind at times. Is this the type of offense to get one rejected? I'm not worried about drug screening because I haven't touched the stuff since then, but having it as a negative on my apps worries me. I hope to God it's not something I'd have to address in my PS.

 

[njbmd]

Sooo, what type of offenses would keep you out of clinicals and/or med-school acceptance?

I hate to admit, but about 9 years ago in college I was busted for posession of MJ, midsemeanor posession. By the time I matriculate, it will be 11 years in the past.

This is something that weighs heavily on my mind at times. Is this the type of offense to get one rejected? I'm not worried about drug screening because I haven't touched the stuff since then, but having it as a negative on my apps worries me. I hope to God it's not something I'd have to address in my PS.

Hi there,
Generally speaking, you do not have to worry about misdemeanors. Felony convictions can be a bit of a problem. Any police background check will bring forth misdemeanors and felonies if present. Most if not all schools will not hold this against you. If you are really worried, check with an attorney but even on state liscense applications, you are only asked about felony convictions.

njbmd 🙂

 

[logos]

Here at OSU we did a fingerprint background check during orientation

 

[ocean11]

I have been told that certain schools will do a fingerprint background check before you can start clinicals, has anyone had this experience, what schools do this? It seems like such an invasion of privacy

YEP, I just had to do one before starting practice clinicals in my second year!!

 

[maxflash04]

I think it's a good idea to make sure everyone is who they really say they are, aren't serious crime affendors, etc. I can see how doing it year-after-year can get a bit annoying though, especially if it's out of pocket change without any aid.

?

 

[blotto geltaco]

but even on state liscense applications, you are only asked about felony convictions.

njbmd 🙂

This is not entirely true. Certain states require that you list any time that you have ever been CHARGED with any criminal offense. In the past, one state in particular even asked that you list traffic infractions, though not any more.

 

[njbmd]

This is not entirely true. Certain states require that you list any time that you have ever been CHARGED with any criminal offense. In the past, one state in particular even asked that you list traffic infractions, though not any more.

Hi there,
You may be asked to list charges but anything that you are charged with is going to come through on your background check anyway whether you are asked to list or not.

njbmd 🙂
(With DEA number in hand)

 

[blotto geltaco]

Hi there,
You may be asked to list charges but anything that you are charged with is going to come through on your background check anyway whether you are asked to list or not.

njbmd 🙂
(With DEA number in hand)

Sorry to be a stickler but I disagree here as well. Typical background checks are not all encompassing. A single centralized database of all criminal charges against everyone simply does not exist. Many jurisdictions issue paper only tickets for minor infractions and misdemeanors and sometimes they physically throw them out after a certain time period. Also charges can be expunged and records sealed so that they will not come through on any background check. I am sure that the check done for your DEA number is more stringent.

 

[curlycity]

The Supreme Court has long ago determined that government agencies need to demonstrate pretty significant reasons to fingerprint someone, and that the population at large cannot randomly be subjected to fingerprinting

I remember someone fingerprinting my entire school when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Not sure that would tie me to the scene of a crime, but I wonder what that was for. We didn't have permission slips or anything. It was in California in the early 80s ... maybe some what-if-you're-kidnapped movement.

Beyond fingerprints, any requests for my bodily fluids will be subject to the strictest scrutiny and resisted mightily. My pa-in-law worked at a company that illegally tested legally obtained blood samples for the 'carpal-tunnel-syndrome-susceptibility gene.' Sound bizarre? I saw the news articles. As long as I can choose where I work, I have no intention of letting a blood sample out of my sight if I can help it. Hellooooo, "Gattaca."

 

[popolus]

is there a place or a book one get to get a definite answer on which schools or states do what, in terms of checks?

 

[medgator]

If you rotate through a VA you'll get the fed work-up...fingerprints, huge background packet (they'll actually send something to your references), etc.

Im an intern at the VA in pittsburgh now... and they didnt make me do any of that?

 

[quicksilver2]

The AAMC Group on Student Affairs is actually in the midst of setting up guidelines on how to deal with this issue in a reasonably consistent way. The problem is that many hospitals and health systems want to make sure that whoever is "working" in their facilities has a clear background check -- rather than make students answerable to a whole slew of different checks, this is an attempt to centralize it all at the med school level and have it be consistent.

Some of the concerns revolved around whether this would affect admissions, etc. I believe the almost-final version of the guidelines states it should be done after the applicant has accepted an offer but prior to matriculation. There's also protections in terms of privacy with respect to who can look at that portion of the file, how it can be used, etc etc. There has also been a lot of discussion about old offenses, etc.

And, as has been pointed out, you can rail all you want, but to be licensed in most jurisdictions, you'll need a background check anyhow. So you might as well give in at this stage of the game.

Check with your local GSA representative for a more up-to-date look at what's going on there.

 

[popolus]

how much are we supposed to give in, like I asked earlier could someone point me to a publication or website that has some comprehensive info on this, statewide or dealing with each school independently when it comes to this issue

 

[quicksilver2]

how much are we supposed to give in, like I asked earlier could someone point me to a publication or website that has some comprehensive info on this, statewide or dealing with each school independently when it comes to this issue

Well, you could take some initiative based on the information I gave earlier and figure it out. Go to AAMC.org and type "background checks" into the search box.