I have a question about drinking. They now include ETOH screening with random drug screenings for nursing in my state. And I know they do it in a few other states as well.
I know of a nurse who was recently screened and came up positive for ETOH and was fired. She swears she drank the night before she came to work but not that day of her shift. This was a urine screen by the way, not a blood alcohol content.
Now my question is how long does it stay in your system? I mean I do drink on my day off. 2-3 drinks, sometimes more if I am fishing or enjoying the outdoors with friends, BBQ etc ( maybe 5-6 but those times are rare). I DO NOT DRINK on the job or before I go in.
Sometimes I do have one drink before I go to sleep. I know it sounds like I am a boozer but I am not.
This has me really paranoid. I mean it is totally legal. And it is my time off. And I have at least 10 hours between my last drink and when I go to work. If I drink at 9:00 pm and go work at 7:00 am that is 10 hours. Is this illegal?
Anyone have any experience with this?
I swear nursing gets more restrictive, you lose your license for a DUI ( no I have never had one, I don't drink and drive) or if you don't pay your state taxes and now this. I bet they don't do any of the above to Dr's or Lawyers. Just seems unfair to me.
I would not work at any hospital that pulls random drug tests. I understand (but don't agree with) pre employment and if you are injured but random no way.
They said she was pulled for a normal random. Another nurse had to go too. This hospital randomly pulls employees for random drug screens. A lot of hospitals do that.
TikiRN
Yikes that is awful...and she was terminated?? I would be fighting that one. I thought maybe she was acting funny so they suspected she was under the influence...
One night we were slow in the ER and Doc took a swig of mouthwash and had the cop who was visiting give him a Breathalyzer and he blew a 0.02.
Yikes that is awful...and she was terminated?? I would be fighting that one. I thought maybe she was acting funny so they suspected she was under the influence...
One night we were slow in the ER and Doc took a swig of mouthwash and had the cop who was visiting give him a Breathalyzer and he blew a 0.02.
colognes and perfumes can drive up a breathalyzer reading too
This reminds me of the company that was going to fire smokers for smoking at home....(I have no sympathy for tobacco but your own time is your own time....)
Without a confirmatory test I would bet that she has a wrongful termination lawsuit....
My husband is representing a client who was asked to take a random breathalyzer at his factory job and was terminated due to the results. The client had been drinking the night before and came in for shift at 5:00am. They never did blood/urine. Client had been employed for 27 years. It was a random screen. My hospital pulls randoms every week.
Big Brother is governng our lives more each year. I think it is scary.
random tests are common, the facility feels like the protection of the of the patient can be compromised if their are no checks
the state facilities all have random drug tests, some of theother facilities have these also..in both cases employees agree to tests at hiring
my father worked for the railroad and the rules there were that no alcohol would be ingested 8 hours prior to beginning of shift, i would think that the same standard would apply wherever you have the lives of other people in your hands
I don't understand why people complain about random screens. I agree that this was handled poorly, but the idea of random screens for healthcare workers is a good. Pilots are even more restricted than we are.....if they have any alcohol in their system at all, enough to trigger a positive result, there is no diversion program. They lose their license, period.
i don't understand why people complain about random screens..
i agree about the testing, its just that they used the wrong test. the best analogy i can think of is to say someone has active tb because they have a positive ppd...
i agree about the testing, its just that they used the wrong test. the best analogy i can think of is to say someone has active tb because they have a positive ppd...
that's not what i mean. a couple of the replies state that they don't agree with the random testing at all, even at start of employment.
I think if alcohol screening is done it needs to be across the board. At my hospital all clinical positions are fair game. But administrative positions are not screened on a random; only if they are suspect. Someone who handles sensitive data in a healthcare facility should be treated just as someone who has direct patient care.
The case my husband is working on was of interest to him because in this very large company, only the plant employees are screened on a regular basis. The executives and other office workers who have three martini lunches and come back to the office lit are exempt.
I totally agree with pre-employment drug screening and random screens. I just disagree with the fact when I am asked to give a sample the person I am giving it to is from HR and has not been tested since her employment in 1998!
Pilots are even more restricted than we are.....if they have any alcohol in their system at all, enough to trigger a positive result, there is no diversion program. They lose their license, period.
Hesitant to jump in but this is not entirely true on both counts.
.04 is actually the 'big' your life is about to change in a big way moment/number and ALPA (pilots union) has quite a progressive diversion program in conjunction w/the FAA and finally, there are pilots who have been busted on the job(and not just who self admitted) who are flying commerically again. One actually wrote an excellent book about his experience though I can't remember the name right now...
I know you're quite knowledgeable about this area and I'm a passionate advocate for life change in general so thought I'd throw that out.
I'd hope no one would be dumb enough to think I'm suggesting that ETOH and ANY safety work is OK.
Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN
1 Article; 631 Posts
I would not work at any hospital that pulls random drug tests. I understand (but don't agree with) pre employment and if you are injured but random no way.