What immunizations before med school

[p9142]

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What immunizations do we need to get before med school? Hepatitis, TB, . . .?

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Ask the school you will be matriculating to--many places may have small differences in what is required.

 

[Gut Shot]

Aside from getting up to date on your standard vaccines, Hep B for sure, and meningococcus (although you can refuse that one by signing a form).

Virtually nobody in this country gets vaccinated for TB.

 

[lilnoelle]

At my school they required some sort of proof that my childhood vaccinations were complete and then they required a Hep B series and two Tb "checks" 6 months before matriculating.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

You'd have to ask your school for their vaccination list - it's going to vary a great deal by school.

Lessee... I had to prove immunity or be vaccinated against rubella, rubeola, dT, mumps, and chicken pox. I had to start a Hep B series (which you can refuse, but it's not advisable - if you're a traditional student, you've probably already been vaccinated) and had to have a current TB test. Havarti is correct - nobody in this country gets vaccinated against TB - which is too bad, because compromised-immunity diseases are helping TB to make a roaring comeback (I've been exposed several times in the last few years working in a hospital). If you get vaccinated against TB, however, you can no longer be tested for exposure by PPD - you'd have to have chest films from then on.

Because I'm an older non-traditional student, I couldn't find some of my childhood records and had to have antibody titers for mumps and chicken pox (no such thing as varicella immunization when I was a kid). After I'd paid $200, I finally found my childhood records <sigh>.

 

[deleted77919]

We had to get titers for everything, records be darned (guess it is the only way to really be sure). I had to eat a huge bill for all those tests tho, stupid insurance not covering "non medically necessary" tests. If I need them for medical school, isn't that "medical necessity?"

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

We had to get titers for everything, records be darned (guess it is the only way to really be sure). I had to eat a huge bill for all those tests tho, stupid insurance not covering "non medically necessary" tests. If I need them for medical school, isn't that "medical necessity?"

Wow, what a pain!! I ended-up having titers for everything (not requried), but that was because the hospital where I worked had already done several titers on me when I started there 10 years ago. And I got my other titers at cost after buttering-up the lab director. As some of my pre-med friends and I said often during application season, "what's another $100 when we've already spent thousands?" You do need a warchest to play the getting-into-medical-school game!!

What irritated me to death, though, was that "normal people" don't often get mumps titers. Some idiot in the lab didn't know the difference between an IgM and an IgG and reported me to the state health department as an active mumps case. Ever gotten a phone message that says "please call the epidemiology section of the county health department?" Man, every sin I've ever committed in life flashed before my eyes!!

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Wow, what a pain!! I ended-up having titers for everything (not requried), but that was because the hospital where I worked had already done several titers on me when I started there 10 years ago. And I got my other titers at cost after buttering-up the lab director. As some of my pre-med friends and I said often during application season, "what's another $100 when we've already spent thousands?" You do need a warchest to play the getting-into-medical-school game!!

What irritated me to death, though, was that "normal people" don't often get mumps titers. Some idiot in the lab didn't know the difference between an IgM and an IgG and reported me to the state health department as an active mumps case. Ever gotten a phone message that says "please call the epidemiology section of the county health department?" Man, every sin I've ever committed in life flashed before my eyes!!

"Tulsa Health Department Epidemiology Section, how can I help you?"
"Look, I have no idea why you called me, but it had absolutely nothing to do a night spent with a Thai hooker and a donkey."

 

[southerncomfort]

In addition to all the standard vax and titers, my school also required a titer for SYPHILLIS!! 😱 I still don't know why...I probably don't want to know why...😳
Yeah, you know I was telling every person I encountered that day, from the nurse, to the doc, to the lab tech, that it was "required for school"!
"For school...right, sure it is!" 😳

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

"Tulsa Health Department Epidemiology Section, how can I help you?"
"Look, I have no idea why you called me, but it had absolutely nothing to do a night spent with a Thai hooker and a donkey."

LOL.... yup, you understood the emotion perfectly!! Best laugh I've had all Christmas break... thanks.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

We had to get titers for everything, records be darned (guess it is the only way to really be sure). I had to eat a huge bill for all those tests tho, stupid insurance not covering "non medically necessary" tests. If I need them for medical school, isn't that "medical necessity?"

I spoke with our student health insurance coordinator re: this same issue last summer. I was able to convince her and subsequently the insurance company that it was mandated that we obtain these titers for our program of study (ie away rotations that required titers, as my school does not require them). I had to pay only $60 instead of something like $450 even though they weren't medically necessary.

 

[donair]

At SLU we were required to show proof of all our childhood vaccinations (ie: MMR, DTH, etc.)

There was also a full physical that was required and on the sheet for that it asked for a TB test (negative within the last 6 months.)

I wasn't required to take any new vaccines though, but my childhood records were all well recorded and stored.

I am also an international student so I don't know if this applied to all students or just to us foreigners.

 

[deleted77919]

I spoke with our student health insurance coordinator re: this same issue last summer. I was able to convince her and subsequently the insurance company that it was mandated that we obtain these titers for our program of study (ie away rotations that required titers, as my school does not require them). I had to pay only $60 instead of something like $450 even though they weren't medically necessary.

It's great that it worked out for you . . . I had to eat my nearly $800 bill . . . (yes, despite having meticulous vaccination records).

But I darn well know that I am immune!

 

[dpmd]

I found a low cost clinic that ran my titers for something like $10-$25 each. That is something to check into if you are broke like I was when I started med school. I know of a few people at my school that had been vaccinated but had negative titers (meaning they would still be at risk). Maybe you can appeal to your insurance company on the grounds that you may be exposed to these diseases and you need to make sure you are protected.

 

[ANCAdoc]

All you need is to have documentation of your childhood vaccinations. I only had to worry about the HepB series. I also had to make sure my last tetanus booster was within the last 10 years (prior to matriculation), luckily I beat that by one month! You will need to get a Tb test, but is has to be within so close to the date of matriculation (I think IU has a 3 month period of validity, and we must get a new one every year).

 

[Wizard of Oz]

What irritated me to death, though, was that "normal people" don't often get mumps titers. Some idiot in the lab didn't know the difference between an IgM and an IgG and reported me to the state health department as an active mumps case. Ever gotten a phone message that says "please call the epidemiology section of the county health department?" Man, every sin I've ever committed in life flashed before my eyes!!

If you had it done at the pink palace, they are known for not paying their lab workers very well. 🙁 I normally try to defend the lab, but I can't think of why that would happen. My reference lab sent mumps titers out, but my hospital did it in house simply because we had so many employees who needed it.

At OUMC, there are some tests that our computer system automatically kicks to the state health department (e.g. GC/Chlamydia). We've had some funny instances in which we've ordered our proficiency QA's under our own names in the computer, verified the results, and had the health department get these reports that we've all got anthrax or Francisella. 😱

To the others, I didn't have any problems having titers covered by my health insurance. You can substitute them for HepB, MMR, and Varicella if you've already been vaccinated but don't have your records. Just make sure if you are going through your primary care doc to use the proper ICD9 and have the doc properly mark that you want a quant. Go with the qualitative if you are paying out-of-pocket (cheaper but typically satisfactory).

TB skin tests and DT shots are usually pretty cheap at a clinic (I just stopped by a nearby workman's comp clinic) or often free at a health department office. If you pay more than $15, keep looking.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

If you had it done at the pink palace, they are known for not paying their lab workers very well. 🙁 I normally try to defend the lab, but I can't think of why that would happen. My reference lab sent mumps titers out, but my hospital did it in house simply because we had so many employees who needed it.

The Pink Palace sends mumps titers out to Utah... and it was darned expensive, even at cost. I've never been able to trace who the idiot was who turned me in, but the results from the reference lab they use for mumps had to be keyed manually back into our lab results system. I promise you, though, it wasn't a shaggy-dog story - I got the phone message at 5:10 on a Friday afternoon and couldn't reach the TCCHD until Monday morning. That weekend was like something out of a Fellini film. Actually, the nurse at TCCHD had figured-out the IgM/IgG error and had closed my file, but hadn't bothered to tell her assistant before the assistant called me to leave the cryptic message. Calling back apparently didn't even occur to her. I will admit, I vented my weekend-long stress in a rather unprofessional manner - my vocabulary got a good workout, however.

 

[Law2Doc]

and meningococcus (although you can refuse that one by signing a form).

Actually I don't think most of the med schools I've seen require the meningococcus vaccine or any refusal of it. (Not an issue for most traditional students, as they probably had to get it for college, but many nontrads won't have had it.)