Nicotine in pre-employment drug screen?

Nurses Safety

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Hello, I was wondering if most health care employers look for nicotine in pre-employment drug screenings?

Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
I think all smokers have an epiphany at some point, though. It might be a cough, or walking into a smoking area and smelling it, climbing stairs, the death of someone, etc.
Not all smokers are in denial and have an epiphany. Like myself, I have been smoking for four years and have tried to quit sooooo many times unsuccessfully. I KNOW it is harmful to my health, that I smell unpleasantly of smoke, that my house smells, that my teeth have yellowed, that my skin doesn't have a glow, that I am out of breath walking up the stairs, that others find it offensive. It truly bothers me. Sometimes I don't think others realize that smokers know they have a problem. It is truly the most addictive thing I have experienced and I went thru a drug phase when I was in highschool. I am a strong willed person. I have tried the patch, gum, online support groups...and it is so discouraging to want to quit so badly but not be physically able to. I want to climb the walls when I am going thru nicotine withdrawl. Its hell. Migraines that are unrelieved by meds, shaking, irritability, loss of the ability to concentrate. And others tsk-tsk makes me feel so shameful and like I am a bad person. I wish I had never picked up my first cigarette. But I did. And now I have to face that demon and the consequences. It is even more frustrating to think that in the future I may not be able to hold a job because of my mistake. If you are going to fire someone for smoking, then at least provide a successful cessation program to give them the chance to kick the habit. Its more than just putting the pack down...its emotional and psychological support that is lacking. Don't feel sorry for the smokers bc they did it to themselves and they could just quit if they wanted to...that seems to be the mentality.
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Boy, do I wish I could just give you a big hug. I know! I know! The patch gave me terrible nightmares; the gum was awful. I'm NOT taking any credit for stopping. I had an emergency hospitalization and just couldn't ask for the patch since hardly anyone knew I smoked. My pride wouldn't LET me. I did have a morphine pump so it took the edge off. When my son retrieved my car, I almost cried. My cigarette stash was in there - all 3 of them, hidden deep in one of the consoles. Yep, I didn't smoke much but was very, very addicted. The physical part was over by the time I got home (4 weeks later) but the pychological addition was still there. My husband is so anti-smoking that I STILL couldn't have gotten any cigarettes since I wasn't allowed to drive. After dinner was a nightmare. Then a friend (who smokes) brought Commit lozenges. I pop one in and everyone thinks it's an after dinner mint. I'd still test positive for nicotine, but 4 mg. once a day isn't too bad. It's my crutch. I hope you find yours. Oh, and since I was NPO for a week - I really, really sucked my "sponge on a stick".

I pray you'll find something since you desparately want to do it. Please, please don't beat yourself up over it. I KNOW how terrible the fight is. I couldn't have done it unless I was forced to. BTW, are you really a soldier's wife? Before I got sick, I worked with the injured at Brook. Not as a nurse, but finding donors for voice recognition equipped computers for the ones with severe hand injuries or burns. Most rewarding work I've ever done. It takes a bit of time training them to use it. But the first thing they want to do is e-mail their buddies still in the sand box. You can't imagine the sight of 6 of them tramping down the hall in a civilian hospital to visit me. That meant more to me than anything. I've been able to get a few things in the last couple months just using the computer - a golf cart for Fisher House, a commercial dishwasher, etc. Now I'm trying for 80 sets of sheets but I'd settle for 25! LOL!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
BTW, are you really a soldier's wife?

Yes and I want to thank you for your own 'service' to this country by supporting your troops. My husband just returned from an 18month deployment (which didn't help with my previous attempts to quit LOL), safe and sound mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. God Bless souls like you who support the soldiers and their families.

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THANK YOU because you also serve. It takes a special person to be a military spouse. I wish more people were aware of how much you all serve, too.

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Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

I get my insurance at a cheaper rate plus an extra $60 bucks a year for not smoking..so I don't care if they test me at all it just isn't an issue with me.

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Quote"sure hope they don't go after fat people next, 'cause even though I exercise three times a week, I still have a spare tire, a lot of junk in the trunk and a pair of oversized headlights."

:lol2: :rotfl: hee hee heee.. :yeahthat: :yeah: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Quote"Smoking is just becoming the whipping boy for all the health problems that we have given ourselves today. If we're gonna screen for nicotine, we should screen for all that, too. The Stepford Nurses.

:lol2: :bow: :bow: :yeah:

Oh, man- Thank you, that was great!!!!!!hee hee hee....

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
... I've worked with plenty of lazy butts, both smokers and non-smokers.

Liked the play on words! :coollook:

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Believe some of this stuff is happening cause smokers are now considered fair game... for all the obvious reasons already talked out.

Management may also associate a "personality" with smokers that in these times is perceived as negative.

Unless there are considerable advantages to hiring one candidate, a sup may choose to think that the non-puffer may just be a better buy.

Who knows what the next "attribute du jour" will be... weight, body fat, waist-hip ratio, ETOH level, your pick of a serum marker, etc.

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I work 13 hour shifts and I do smoke on my designated breaks. I really dont think it's any different from the trips the other nurses take to the cafeteria during their breaks.

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Thanks for adding the videos, they're very interesting :)

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Being a smoker growing up in tobacco country, this is wrong. Tobacco use is not illegal although some employers decide to not hire tobacco users. With thousands of nurses looking for employment, this is just another way to eliminate some candidates. They get insurance breaks.

What is MORE interesting is medical cannabis. What if a nurse possesses a weed prescription for her own medical problems? Oh, the times they are a-changing.

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