Drug screen for new job

Altra, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

The immediacy is so that there is not time for an applicant to *ahem* prepare for the UDS and alter the result from what it might otherwise have been.

minnymi · Jun 29, 2012

if the new job is important to you then use a personal day or call in sick.

"you gotta do what you gotta do"

RURN2O11 · Jun 29, 2012

I understand that but when UPS does not deliver packages in a timely manner it makes it very difficult. I am expected to drop my current job to just go do this drug screen . . . I think that it's unprofessional of me to be expected to just call out from my current job in order to do that. And they refuse to tell me what will happen if I cannot get off work to do this.

RURN2O11 · Jun 29, 2012

Yes, I plan to call in "sick" if I have to but I just think this whole process is absurd. My current job just had me do the drug screen when I had my employee health visit.

It's just sad that in our current society we are considered guilty until proven innocent b/c that is what this whole process implies. I find it very frustrating when I've never even thought about doing drugs in my whole life.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

I understand your frustration, but I have been required to have a UDS for all jobs I've held since the late 1980s - in and out of healthcare. This is not new.

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

It's very common for a UDS to be done within a very stringent, short window, usually 24-48 hours of the request. As someone else said, it's so if you do regularly take recreational drugs or narcotics, they can catch it in the urine. What's the point of requiring a UDS if they say "Hey, do it at your own convenience!"

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

I find it very frustrating when I've never even thought about doing drugs in my whole life.

And they know this about you, how?

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

I have to say that UDS are always done ASAP so that you cannot wait for things to pass. It occurs when a job wants to hire you, and also if you get hurt on the job. You want to know what will happen if you don't do it in the time they allow.. They will move onto the next nurse who can. Sorry..

mclennan, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

If I wanted the job bad enough, I'd FIND a way to accommodate their request. You gotta do what you gotta do, and their process is not absurd in the least, it's common and has been more or less the same for decades.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 29, 2012

I have no problem doing a urine drug screen but the requirement to do it within 24 hrs of receiving the paperwork seems very odd to me. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Actually, it's very common practice to require a UDS within a certain period of time. Most facilities will also tell you that failure to complete the test in that period of time would be considered as if you had tested positive and that they will act upon that accordingly.

As others have said, they do this in order to minimize the chance that you'd somehow alter or tamper with your UDS, or prevent you from delaying the test in order to let anything you did take clear out.

Fair? Not always. But unfortunately that is how it is: they are going to think the worst of every applicant. And let's face it, the most honest test is the one done randomly and on the spot (or as close as possible).

All you can do is somehow make it to the testing center in time.

Best of luck!

morte, LPN, LVN · Jun 30, 2012

unless it comes return receipt or some other special delivery, how do they know when you get it? I am a complete novice, never had to do a drug test in 30 years...though i can see it in the near future.

I just accepted a new RN job in another state. They are asking that I complete a urine drug screen within 24 hours of receiving the paperwork for such. I have to drive 45 minutes to go to a facility that does these screenings. I have no problem doing a urine drug screen but the requirement to do it within 24 hrs of receiving the paperwork seems very odd to me. Has anyone else ever heard of this? I am still working at my current job & I don't want to miss work just to go do a urine drug screen but I have no control over when I receive this paperwork. I asked them to send it this week so I could receive it yesterday & get the drug screen done today, my one day off this week. However, they apparently did not send it or it is lost in the mail because I have not received the papers. I am just really frustrated because they told me they would rescind the job offer if I do not complete the drug screen within 24 hrs of receiving the papers. That just seems really stringent to me & very unrealistic when I am still working full-time at another facility that is not even in the same state. I also cannot get anyone at HR to answer the phone or respond to my emails regarding this. This is a fairly prestigious hospital and I am just really surprised at how odd this all is. Any suggestions? Anyone else every had to deal with such a situation?