background check/dug screening

treeguy · Mar 24, 2009

the reason i answered the question the way i did was because although there are a lot of validity to this poster's question, she left it for us to determine her motive. i am clean so therefore i never asked this when i applied to school so it seemed odd that she would be concerned unless she was using or had used in the past. hence my answer towards the little info she gave us. if you have a drug in your system, it does not always mean that you will fail...they want to know how honest you can be beforehand.
i myself think it is ridiculous that anyone would come on here and ask this question...after all we are nurses, we are held to a higher standard and those who abuse make us look bad and sometimes even cost us our jobs because of their thievery. (note to original poster...i am not accusing you and i am sorry that i made implications of that and i am sorry for the smart a$# post :) )
as for schools letting you know what tests they decide to run, most will switch them around to make sure the students won't know what they will be required to take. and by the way, a hair test reads approximately 3 months of past history but for those who have used don't fall back on this and also note that if you end up finding out your doing a hair test, don't shave your head because this is an automatic fail. and cost is not a factor because you either get the money or you go to a cheaper school simple. they don't care. personally, i hope that the person asking this question is making new habits and starting a better life or she is just concerned with the cost issue.

just because someone may have done drugs in their stupid youth doesn't mean they should not be a nurse. people make mistakes... it's called being human. i think her question is valid. if she used to use in the past then i don't see why she would not be concerned. before any gets on a high horse of "oh i have never done drugs" just remember that we have all done stupid things and that should not affect our future if we have sincerely given those things up.

and to the other gentlemen, users are not the only ones who are concerened.

treeguy · Mar 24, 2009

Not true.
It is accruate from 90 days up to as long as 6 months for some drugs.
So, for someone that has really long hair, if the hair at the tip started growing 4 years ago, and you smoked pot 4 years ago, the answer is no, it will NOT show up on a hair follicle test.
It just gives a longer windown, but it's not forever.
So, if someone smoked pot 6 months ago, that means that they smoked it DURING nursing school, and I fully support a hospital not hiring that individual.

Thanks for the info and clearing up that misconception.

I also agree that people who currently use drugs should not be eligable. Nursing is a serious thing and people who use drugs do not really have their lives on track enough to think about a job with so much responsability

treeguy · Mar 24, 2009

This is an open forum. If you post a thread people are goingto discuss the thread, the motivation of the thread the silliness or seriousness of the thread and so on.

Or they may just judge and label people as "obsessing" when they just asked a simple question... they may even refuse to give a straight answer... shurg....