Drug Screen advice

[stinky_candi]

Hi all, I got accepted to a nursing program ! so I just did the back ground check and drug screen(urine) like others.

Everything went well except 1 thing: my drug result says : Negative/ dilute.

At first, I didn't know what that meant, so I asked around (some nurses ); and they said that means there was too much water in my urine specimen which could make the drug test unacceptable.

. Then, I asked the staff at my nursing school if my result was good or not; or should I retake the test. They said since the result is negative, so I dont need to do anything unless lab. people call me to do so !!!

I wished I didn't drink too much water on that urine test day ! No one warned me not to drink water b4 the test ! Usually I drink heck of water in the morning b.cuz I skip breakfast most of the time.

I was always confident about my drug test, but I feel worried and uncomfortable this time !The worst thing is I feel like people think I am a cheater ! People would loose trust on me! hixhix Poor me:(

Is there anyone in this situation like me? Then What happened ? What were your solutions?

PS: Do NOT drink water at least 3 hrs b4 urine test ! I learned it the hard way !

[Anne36, LPN]

If you dont do drugs why should you care if the test showed dilute urine or not? You passed , so dont worry about it. I had my test in the afternoon and never thought twice about how much water I had been drinking all day. Noone said anything to me about it either.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

The bigger problem would be if the sample was not within the acceptable temperature range. (i.e. urine specimen mixed with water altering sample temperature).

Plenty of people have dilute urine due to their normal water intake (regardless if meals are skipped). Unless it had your specific gravity as 1.000 (pure water) or positive for any drug, there is nothing to worry about.

You are over thinking the situation. There is no reason to reduce or cease water intake prior to a urine drug screen.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

While probably wouldn't be an issue for a school or regular staff position, if you regularly got frequent dilutes on an agency/travel assignments several times in a row WITHOUT a good medical reason, you may have problems.

Depending on the level of dilution, it takes ALOT of fluid to get flagged. Often there is a suspicion that taking that much may be due to trying to flush your system. I suspect that yours was not a true flag but just a note.

Regardless, you do not have to abstain from fluids, merely consume them in moderation.

I once had a UDA for an assignment as a traveler. After drinking an adequate amt of fluid, I traveled cross Boston via bus/metro/walking, getting there after several false turns. Then, it was quite crowded and I had to wait for 2hrs, 30 min for a turn. During that time, I had to pee & drink more water and repeat several times. The screen was flagged as too dilute to be acceptable. Thus my recruiter warned me against doing that again. But I had drunk ALOT of water.

[stinky_candi]

The bigger problem would be if the sample was not within the acceptable temperature range. (i.e. urine specimen mixed with water altering sample temperature).

Plenty of people have dilute urine due to their normal water intake (regardless if meals are skipped). Unless it had your specific gravity as 1.000 (pure water) or positive for any drug, there is nothing to worry about.

You are over thinking the situation. There is no reason to reduce or cease water intake prior to a urine drug screen.

USD: Academics: Hahn School of Nursing Health Science I had the same thought like yours; however, after reading this, i felt regretful due to drinking too much water !

[stinky_candi]

If you dont do drugs why should you care if the test showed dilute urine or not? You passed , so dont worry about it. I had my test in the afternoon and never thought twice about how much water I had been drinking all day. Noone said anything to me about it either.

Thank you for your response ! However, I read a story somewhere like this: There were some nursing students not allowed to do their clinical rotation at some hospitals because their result says : Negative/ dilute. So they had to take their urine test again. The worst thing is They didn't find out until like 2 days before the rotations. The test result took about 1 week to be done ,which meant they would lose heck of clinical time until they receive the test result. I really don't want to be in that situation.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

USD: Academics: Hahn School of Nursing Health Science I had the same thought like yours; however, after reading this, i felt regretful due to drinking too much water !

I am just speaking from experience as an individual who used to perform urine drug screens as part of my job responsibilities.

That said, there are voluminous websites out there that describe how to "beat" drug tests, such as drinking excessive amounts of water then ingesting a variety of other substances. With the increased access to the internet world wide, it seems many schools & companies (including those governed by the DOT) are now developing policies regarding dilute urine samples, since there are individuals who dedicate their life to "beating" drug screens due to their own illicit drug use.

If you do not use drugs of abuse, then there should be no worry on your part especially since your school said that the negative result is acceptable. Are you planning on attending USD? Or did you just find that policy by searching the internet?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but maybe consider switching excessive water consumption in the AM to eating breakfast might be a better choice in your case? This way if you have to repeat the urine specimen per lab policy, you won't have to be concerned about another dilute result. :) (Since you stated that you are not a person who uses drugs of abuse)

Good luck. If you know that the negative result is accurate, don't make yourself nuts about it.