Drug testing........................................... .........

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have a question for you all. perhaps you can help me out!

Are nurses allowed to take RX pain meds on their days off?

We all know that nurses are not allowed to work under the influence under any drug that impairs his or her judgement/mental state/mood, etc. That being said, let's assume that a nurse is prescribed Vicodin for an acute injury - and she decides to take it only on her days off. And then let's say she was drug tested 2 days later at work (after taking the last dose on her day off 2 days prior) and it comes back positive for Vicodin (hydrocodone). How do hospitals view this?? Since she was taking it on her days off, and the metabolites stay in her system much longer, is she techinically "under the influence"? Thanks.

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Specializes in Emergency nursing, critical care nursing..

if you have a prescription under a doctors care, no need to worry.

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Specializes in Acute Care.
if you have a prescription under a doctors care, no need to worry.

What she said.

Before your urine test, they should give you a chance to provide a list of all meds you have taken over the past few months.

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Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.
I have a question for you all. perhaps you can help me out!

Are nurses allowed to take RX pain meds on their days off?

We all know that nurses are not allowed to work under the influence under any drug that impairs his or her judgement/mental state/mood, etc. That being said, let's assume that a nurse is prescribed Vicodin for an acute injury - and she decides to take it only on her days off. And then let's say she was drug tested 2 days later at work (after taking the last dose on her day off 2 days prior) and it comes back positive for Vicodin (hydrocodone). How do hospitals view this?? Since she was taking it on her days off, and the metabolites stay in her system much longer, is she techinically "under the influence"? Thanks.

There should be no need for nurses to not get the same necessary treatments for health conditions as anyone else - including pain medications. If they have a legitimate need for it, they should not be made to feel like drug abusers/diverters.

If your institution does a drug screen, they should give you a chance to list any prescription medications you are taking which could affect the results - and plenty of medications that are NOT on any Controlled Substance Schedule can cause false (+) results.

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Specializes in ICU.

if you have a script......you're ok, just make them aware of it prior to the test so it's documented.

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Specializes in LTC.

I've had to take pee tests when I was prescribed Vicodin; never been a problem, just tell the tech or HR person you have a scrip for it; bring in the bottle and show that your name is on it if you have any doubts. It never even showed up on mine.

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