Norwegian health authorities are working intensively to keep Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and tuberculosis out of Norwegian hospitals. MRSA is especially hazardous to people with a weak immune system, and hospitalized patients should therefore not be exposed to the risk of infection.
An important part of these efforts is to ensure that health workers, including students in clinical training, are not carriers of MRSA.
Could I be colonized with MRSA or infected with the TB bacteria?
All new medical- and clinical nutrition students, including exchange students, need to address this question. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the control questions, this means that you need to take a test, and the result of the test(s) must be available before you can attend clinical teaching sessions.
Throughout the course of your studies, you must remember to take a test if any of the answers have changed from ‘no’ to ‘yes’. It is especially important for you to consider this:
- before starting Module 1, Module 3, Module 6 and Module 7
- before starting ERN1010, ERN1100, ERN2200R, ERN3100, ERN3200 and ERN4500
- after an exchange period outside of the Nordic region with clinical exposure, or when coming on exchange and being exposed to a clinical environment
- after any other period of stay outside of the Nordic region during your studies
Control questions for tuberculosis:
- Do you come from a country with high prevalence of tuberculosis, or have you stayed in such countries* for a period of at least 3 consecutive months during the last 3 years?
- Have you been in contact with people infected with tuberculosis, or do you suspect that you might have become infected with tuberculosis yourself?
*Countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis include countries outside Scandinavia, the Nordic region, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Italy, Greece, UK, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Japan, USA, Cuba, Iran, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Take a test before attending clinical teaching
Tuberculin testing is undertaken by the municipal health services: in Oslo, by the public health centres or the diagnosis unit at Ullevål Hospital.
You may not attend clinical teaching before the results of your tests are available and shown to be negative. Students submit their test results to the Section for Student Affairs before commencing clinical training. Later, it is your responsibility to take a new test if you have been in a situation that has involved a risk of exposure to infection during your period of study.
Alternatively, you may submit a tuberculin test certificate dated no less than 2 months after you left one of the countries in question, or were at risk of infection with tuberculosis.
Control questions for MRSA:
- Have you been hospitalized, or received comprehensive treatment at a health institution outside of the Nordic region, during the last 12 months?
- Have you been employed as a health worker, or been volunteering, outside of the Nordic region, during the last 12 months?
- Have you visited an orphanage, refugee camp, asylum reception centre, disaster area, or prison, outside of the Nordic region, during the last 12 months?
- Have you been employed in an asylum reception centre during the last 12 months?
- Have you been in close contact with MRSA-positive persons, without using protective equipment, during the last 12 months?
- Have you tested positive for MRSA at any time during the last 12 months (even if later control tests came out negative)?
- Have you, at any time, tested positive for MRSA, and subsequently not taken three negative control tests?
If you answer ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions, you must undergo MRSA screening at a medical centre. Medical exchange students are to address themselves to SiO Health. Keep in mind that it may take a week before the results are available. Students submit their test results to the Section for Student Affairs before commencing clinical teaching/training. Remember that it is your responsibility to take a new test if you might have been exposed to a risk of infection.
Hepatitis B Vaccination under the auspices of UiO
The hepatitis B virus causes an acute inflammation of the liver that may lead to a chronic carrier state. The virus is mainly found in blood and body fluids. The virus can spread through infected blood (punctures with an infected syringe). Given medical students may be exposed to a risk of infection during their training, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health provides the vaccine free of charge, and you only have to pay a small fee for the vaccination itself. To be included in the vaccination programme, please follow the instructions provided to new students in Module 1.
No BCG vaccine necessary before starting clinical training
The BCG vaccine protects against infection with tuberculosis. Most medical- and clinical nutrition students born in 1996 or later, have not previously received the BCG vaccine through the paediatric vaccination programme in Norway.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health no longer recommends that all health science students should take the BCG vaccine. Tuberculosis (TB) in Norway fact sheet.