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.
There's generally not really any such thing as drug testing "before hire", drug testing as part of a hiring process is typically done after a "conditional offer of employment" is made, so it technically occurs after hire.
A drug test is done after a conditional offer of employment and well before the first day of orientation, which is the only date I've ever seen used as date of hire.
Regardless, it does not change the nature of my challenge, which is that testing an employee who is on duty is not the same thing as testing an employee during their time off. A pre-hire drug screen is done during time off.
Well, shame on us. This isn't the 80's anymore. People will continue to use poor judgement until they're confronted by their peers. We've all needed guidance in the past from others to point us in the right direction.directi
I didn't intend to shame anyone...it happens in all professions. We are humans who live our lives. The point was more about how some are judged, loose jobs or don't get them, have rumors start etc...over a PRESUMED impairment r/t medication. We judge unfairly when there are plenty of other potentially impairing behaviors that are common and no one seems
Let's inject some science here. Methadone does impair psycho-motor skills. So dies suboxone, just less so than methadone. There are plenty of areas for nurses on suboxone to work...we just don't know YET if direct patient care is one of them. I would be uncomfortable if my CRNA or ICU nurse was on benzos or narcotics. BTW, benzos only treat symptoms not causes of anxiety disorders.
The vast majority of illness associated in this category the medication only treats the symptoms not the cause. It's why the medication requires regular use. Anti-depressants function the same way.
I didn't intend to shame anyone...it happens in all professions. We are humans who live our lives. The point was more about how some are judged, loose jobs or don't get them, have rumors start etc...over a PRESUMED impairment r/t medication. We judge unfairly when there are plenty of other potentially impairing behaviors that are common and no one seems
to care about those.[/quote
I remember when I was a new nurse in the 70's and not thinking twice about coming to work with a hangover AND we sometimes went to a bar for lunch. I would be ashamed of myself if I did that today because we've evolved. A lot of that has to so with websites like AN where we teach each other.
It seems to be, at the very least, anything that comes with a warning about driving and operating machinery while taking the medication.[/QUOTi
If the drug is included in a screen, it is prohibited. It would seem to be common sense to avoid using these drugs altogether when in the process of accepting a job..just for one's own job protection.
OP - were you able to work things out? I can't tell from all the posts if the position was rescinded or not..either way, did you ever reach out directly to the hiring manager? I have found (not in situations like this but others) that nursing recruiters - at least around my area - don't care about anything much after they set up the initial interview - they are notorious at the hospitals around here for not answering emails/returning calls, etc. I would just suggest, if you haven't already/the situation hasn't been resolved to call the hiring manager directly. I hope this has worked out for you.
It seems to be, at the very least, anything that comes with a warning about driving and operating machinery while taking the medication.[/QUOTi
If the drug is included in a screen, it is prohibited. It would seem to be common sense to avoid using these drugs altogether when in the process of accepting a job..just for one's own job protection.
Wouldn't that make things easier. But what am I supposed to do about my (hypothetical, lets say) epilepsy medication? Just skip it for a few days before the drug test and hope nothing bad happens? After all, those meds DO say don't use heavy machinery *until you know how it affects you*.
I mean, whats gets in the way of my work more, me taking my meds, or collapsing from a seizure in the middle of the ICU? Its SO frustrating to be told that I could potentially have to give up my career for something like that - where I did nothing wrong and nobody was hurt or in danger. Why did I even bother going to school then? But what, they can just decide that I'm incapable, out of ignorance. HR and employee health should not be making that decision unilaterally. If my primary care doctor says that I am capable of doing the job safely, that should matter.
Just took a drug test (again) today. Am all fired up now.
The vast majority of illness associated in this category the medication only treats the symptoms not the cause. It's why the medication requires regular use. Anti-depressants function the same way.
NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN
791 Posts
A drug test is done after a conditional offer of employment and well before the first day of orientation, which is the only date I've ever seen used as date of hire.
Regardless, it does not change the nature of my challenge, which is that testing an employee who is on duty is not the same thing as testing an employee during their time off. A pre-hire drug screen is done during time off.