Hospital & The Drug Screen: I thought they had to wait?

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I recently received an offer for a position at a major hospital in Houston and had to go through all the pre-hire stuff, including a drug screen. I am currently prescribed a prescription that shows up on all the drug screens I've ever done. I always have had anxiety that this will cause me to lose a position in some way.

I'm panicking after what happened today.

-Last Wednesday (6/22) I went into the hospital's employee health clinic for my drug screen. I expressed my concern that I had prescriptions that will affect the results. I was reassured if I had it written down in my history everything would be fine.

-This morning (6/27) I missed a call from the hospital's HR department and then 2 hours later missed call from a 1-800 number. Since the 1-800 number left me a message instructing me to call, I gave them a call first. It was the MRO asking for verification of my prescription. They informed me I had 72 hours to submit proof. I submitted the proof immediately.

-In the next couple of hours I called my recruiter (assuming it had nothing to do with the drug screen) and asked if she had been trying to contact me this morning. She said yes that she was calling to inform me that I had positive drug screen (Note- before the MRO attempted to contacted me). I explained that the results were due to a prescription drug. She seemed confused: "What do you mean a prescription?" She seemed extremely judgemental, and disgusted with me. I didn't disclose the name of the prescription because as I was told by the hospital: My health information only goes to the employee health clinic. I expressed this situation panicked me. She replied "It panics us too." It was extremely hurtful. She obviously thought I was lying. She told me to contact her if I got that sorted out.

-I called the hospital's employee health clinic immediately after my call with my recruiter to inquire about the drug screen results. They were reluctant to help me, because apparently whoever normally deals with this "leaves at 3:30." I insisted; I told her HR had contacted me and that I was under the impression that this information would not be released to HR and was worried about losing my position. She then said "Oh we did just receive verification. I'll update your profile to show a true negative and let HR know. Someone from HR will be in touch with you."

-I waited 15 minutes then tried to call my recruiter back twice with no answer. I sent her an email to confirm she received the information and to confirm my start date. No answer yet. I'm afraid she has contacted my unit and nurse manager about the situation.

I did not think that HR was suppose to be aware of a positive result of a drug test until it was verified? Especially since this hospital has its own employee health clinic, and HR does not deal directly with drug screens. Agh. Could they take away my position? (I was going to have my offer rescinded before the MRO even had contacted me!) How is this normally supposed to work? Can anyone shed light on this situation? I am really upset that this happened, and hope it gets sorted out.

[Not happy at the idea of my boss hearing I had a positive drug screen, then hearing "Oh never mind, she is taking the drugs legally."]

Note again:This is a MAJOR hospital system that excels in employee satisfaction, one that I would not pin having this kind of confusion with.

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You seem to be putting a lot of thoughts into this person's head. She's "disgusted" and "extremely judgemental". She "obviously thought [you were] lying". Is it possible that your extreme anxiety is clouding your perception?

You have a start date. You have a legitimate prescription for the "positive" drug test. Calling multiple times (and emailing!) after only allowing 15 minutes for processing does not seem reasonable ...especially after being told that the primary person you needed to deal with was not in the office.

Sleep on it try to avoid worrying unless you need to. You seem to be creating a situation more than responding to one.

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Specializes in NICU.

If the person has a legitimate prescription to account for the positive result I thiught the screen was reported to the employer as "negative" or "pass" so as not to violate private medical info?

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You seem to be putting a lot of thoughts into this person's head. She's "disgusted" and "extremely judgemental". She "obviously thought [you were] lying". Is it possible that your extreme anxiety is clouding your perception?

You have a start date. You have a legitimate prescription for the "positive" drug test. Calling multiple times (and emailing!) after only allowing 15 minutes for processing does not seem reasonable ...especially after being told that the primary person you needed to deal with was not in the office.

Sleep on it try to avoid worrying unless you need to. You seem to be creating a situation more than responding to one.

I have spoken with this recruiter many times and she was speaking to me differently than our previous conversations. However, regardless of how I perceived it, she called to tell me my offer was being rescinded because of my drug screen results. I had to discuss my private medical information, which was not appropriate.

The person I spoke with in the clinic was able to make the change in the system, which was an immediate update.

My "clouded perception" and "extreme anxiety" aside, my employer was notified that I had failed a drug screen. I did not create that.

You seem quite insensitive. Critiquing my emotional response to the situation was not helpful.

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If the person has a legitimate prescription to account for the positive result I thiught the screen was reported to the employer as "negative" or "pass" so as not to violate private medical info?

That's was my thought as well! My results were disclosed before I was able to provide verification of prescription. Disclosing that information to the HR recruiter felt extremely inappropriate.

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I have spoken with this recruiter many times and she was speaking to me differently than our previous conversations. However, regardless of how I perceived it, she called to tell me my offer was being rescinded because of my drug screen results. I had to discuss my private medical information, which was not appropriate.

The person I spoke with in the clinic was able to make the change in the system, which was an immediate update.

My "clouded perception" and "extreme anxiety" aside, my employer was notified that I had failed a drug screen. I did not create that.

You seem quite insensitive. Critiquing my emotional response to the situation was not helpful.

There are processes in place when it comes to hiring and drug tests. Having said that - it does not matter much now because your offer got rescinded. To be honest though - if I was hiring and got a call about a failed drug test including which substance, I would be concerned as well and probably consider not hiring that person. If an error happens, I would always think that it could be due to impairment because of medication.

I am not judgmental - people may need medication that is a controlled substance - but I am not free of bias and I do wonder how a controlled substance influences performance and safe working.

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???HIPAA violation?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
???HIPAA violation?

Not unless the applicant's medical insurance was billed for the drug test

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.
There are processes in place when it comes to hiring and drug tests. Having said that - it does not matter much now because your offer got rescinded. To be honest though - if I was hiring and got a call about a failed drug test including which substance, I would be concerned as well and probably consider not hiring that person. If an error happens, I would always think that it could be due to impairment because of medication.

I am not judgmental - people may need medication that is a controlled substance - but I am not free of bias and I do wonder how a controlled substance influences performance and safe working.

Your thought processs is exactly why employers are not entitled to employee health info, including drug screen results for meds employees have prescriptions for.

I am not saying you are wrong for thinking this way, just that you are by far not the only person who thinks this way. Hence why that info should not be disclosed.

Knowing what's meds they take puts the thought in your mind that they could be making errors due to being impaired. When in the same token, they could be a great nurse not given a chance due to bias.

And OP didn't disclose their medical condition. For all we know they could be bipolar or have ADHD or something that is well managed with their medication. Medication that when taken properly doesn't impair them at all. So assuming that the failed drug screen is for a med that will leave them impaired could be unfounded.

OP, I truly hope this gets sorted out for you and you don't lose the job because of a mistake with the MRO releases partial results of a drug screen.

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Specializes in NICU.

Since the employee health clinic is associated with the hospital, maybe someone in HR accessed the result themself rather than the clinic sharing it with them?

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From the details provided, and I know we don't have the other side of the story, it sounds like the OP got wrongly screwed.

Sorry this happened.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

Sounds like they did a big no-no. I wonder if that opens them up to a lawsuit in some way.

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