Hair Testing For Drugs Among Nurses

[RD_Congo]

Someone sent me a private message claiming that hair testing is now commonly used for drug testing.

(Of course, hair testing is controversial due to the differences between white and black hair, which works out strongly to the disadvantage of people of African descent, with increased risk for false positives.)

Have you been hair tested, or just gotten the typical urine test?

[1776patriot]

When I was in college back in 1999 (working toward non-nursing degree) I worked in a group home where staff passed out meds with very little training. I mean I was trained in the routes but I never really knew what each pill did that I gave out. They took hair samples instead of a whiz quiz. I would prefer that over having someone watch me pee in a cup. No other job since then used hair they always used pee.

[squirtle]

I haven't had that come up for myself ... but when hubby was going to take a part time job for a small auto part type store they wanted hair from him. They handed out a little pamphlet saying that it was more reliable and could dertermine drug use over a longer period of time.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

RD- you won't get hair follicle testing, as far as I know. I have never, ever heard of this happening in 14 years of nursing. Since most drug screens are paid for by the employer, and hair follicle testing is way more expensive than a urine drug screen, it would seem highly unlikely that this would happen. They also have no need to know whether you took drugs 10 years ago. They're more interested in the recent past.

[MikeyJ, RN]

I agree with the poster stating that most hospitals would prefer not to pay for hair follice testing. My brother is going through a custody dispute and was required to get hair follice testing done and urine and it costed him $150 just for the hair follice. I cannot imagine a hospital paying that for each of their new staff.

[southern rn]

I know for a fact that one of the two hospital systems in my town do the hair follicle testing. My cousin applied for a job there doing maintenance ?or housekeeping-don't remember. He was given the hair test lol.

[Batman24]

No hair testing in any of the hospitals in my area. I don't think we will see a big turn towards it at present either given the costs involved.