Pre Employment Physical

Why Employees Need a Pre-Employment Physical?

Physical examinations are an excellent tool for measuring an employee's health. We offer many types of physical exams, including pre-employment, return to work, Department of Transportation (DOT), and general wellness exams. Studies have shown that pre-employment medical exams can help you save money due to fewer accidents, injuries, and workers' compensation claims. In fact, one study found that more than $18 can be saved for every dollar spent on pre-employment exams.1

A pre-employment physical exam, also known as a pre-placement test or human performance evaluation (HPE), is important because it gives you and your employee confidence that they can perform a job to the best of their abilities. Sometimes a pre-employment medical exam can identify potential illnesses or chronic conditions that could prevent someone from performing the job adequately. Pre-employment medical exams can be especially important for people with an existing chronic condition, as they can indicate whether the current management program is working.

Pre-employment medical exams can also provide you and your employee with a baseline to track your health over time or after an injury.

What Does a Pre-Employment Physical Look Like?

A pre-employment physical exam looks at many health elements, including:

• Vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature

• Health of the abdomen to determine the functionality of the liver, intestine and other organs

• Skin appearance to determine if there are signs or symptoms of other underlying diseases

• Cardiac and pulmonary examination

You may also want to supplement your employee's pre-employment medicals with additional tests such as:

• Drug and alcohol testing

• Vision test

• Tuberculosis screening

• Titles

• Laboratories

• Audiometry tests or hearing conservation programs

These additional tests provide accurate measures of your employee's well-being and ensure that critical factors such as vision and hearing meet job requirements.

How Can My Employees Prepare for Their Pre-Employment Physical?

While an employee cannot change their health overnight, they can prepare for the physical by putting together a few things:

• Documents you have given them detailing the services they need, including lab orders if needed

• Any aids they may need such as glasses, hearing aids, etc.; for further testing

• A valid ID such as a driver's license, state or federal ID, or employer-issued badge

• List of medications, past surgeries, medical conditions and allergies

What Other Ways Are There to Measure My Employee’s Health?

Health does not begin and end with a pre-employment physical examination. There are other ways to assess an employee's well-being, including biometric screening. Biometric screenings are similar to physical tests in that they measure physical characteristics such as height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure, but they also take into account other indicators such as as lipid and glucose levels. These indicators are important in determining your employee's level of health and can provide important information for the early detection of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Body metric tests are another way to determine physical health. Not quite physical, a body metrics test measures key vitals and body measurements such as height, weight, BMI, and blood pressure to form an overall composite of a person's physical fitness. Med Express offers both biometric screenings and body metric tests that can help you make informed decisions about your employee's basic health and well-being.