Policy on TB Testing and Hepatitis B Immunizations
These policies were enacted to protect the health and safety of employees and students who may be exposed to certain biohazards in the campus and clinic working environments.
Tuberculosis Screening
All faculty, staff and students who work or have shifts at Bastyr University clinics are required to be screened annually for tuberculosis (TB) and are responsible to provide documentation of their results. Screening results can be submitted directly to the Facilities and Safety Office.
Bastyr provides two TB testing clinics each year, and all are encouraged to have their screening performed in sync with these week-long clinics, called TB Weeks. Two screening options are available: Tuberculosis Skin Test (TST) or QuantiFERON blood test (QFG).
Students pay $10 toward the cost of their TST during the TB Week clinic, or $20 if they make a special appointment at one of the University clinics. QFG is available for an approximate cost of $110. If a chest x-ray is necessary, Bastyr University agrees to pay $37.50 toward this cost. Other locations are available with low-cost options. Questions regarding TB screening or requests for forms can be addressed to the Facilities and Safety Office.
Hepatitis B Immunizations
The following people are required to either take the hepatitis B immunization series, provide documentation that they have had such immunizations in the past 10 years, or sign a waiver refusing the immunizations along with a release of liability form: All ND, AOM and clinical nutrition students, AEAM and ND faculty and staff at a University clinic, and faculty or laboratory and operations assistants who are category I (those who have daily exposure to blood or body fluids) and category II (those who have occasional exposure to blood or body fluids).
Bastyr University agrees to pay 50 percent of the cost of the hepatitis B immunization series for students.
Note: All students are required to pay in full the cost of testing antibody levels for any of the agents listed above, if they choose to check for individual immunity, prior to waiving or taking any immunizations.
Commencement of the immunization series (or submission of a waiver) and TB screening shall occur before the first day of work for all faculty and staff, and before ND, AOM and clinical nutrition students begin their clinic shifts. Hepatitis immunization forms/waivers are distributed to students in one of their required clinical courses. Hepatitis immunization questions can be directed to the Blood Borne Pathogen Safety Officer.
Anyone who has elected to waive the immunization series has the option to change that election, at any time, and take the immunization series.