Honest question needs honest anwser..

GoldenFire5 · Nov 28, 2006

Well I guess i should have been more specific.. lol.. I meant to say ,... in the past ... I have smoked pot on occation.....
Im just worried if they do hair stran testing they can see that in the past that i smoked pot... and that it might make them not want to hire me.

Erowid.org is a good source for information about drugs and drug testing.

It looks like most hair testing is done using the 1 1/2 inches of hair closest to the scalp, so about 3 months of growth. A newer method reveals use within the last 5 months or so.

Find out more info here:

Erowid Drug Testing Vaults

Kandigrl2001 · Nov 29, 2006

Well if thats the case with the 5 months closest to the scalp would be okay ..even a littl elonger but the thing is ... MY hair is down to my butt.. i am growing it to donate to "locks for love". so if they would do the whole thing... thats like 4 yrs .. .. but i dont think it woould be fair to do the whole stran.. because men are always cutting their hair!.. anyways .. thank you for everyones in put... if i dont get the job because of my past then .. i guess i wouldnt want it anyways.. because i have changed. And i gave it up so that i could become a nurse... i dont drink .. never have .. so that was the one thing i liked to do. But its behind me now... and i think i'll be just fine! =)

iluvnursing625 · Dec 2, 2006

well, penn valley does not drug test...suprise suprise, just as long as you have given yourself atlest 1 month without smoking it, then your urine should be negative for it. as far as a hair test, yeah right. that is way too expensive. one of my instructors work at truman hospital hill and she says in the last 30 yrs shes been a nurse, she has never once been drug tested. and statistically 45% of nurses have some type of drug dependency. whether it be pot or pills or whatever. so you would think that if we were drug tested ALL the time, the nursing shortage would be wayyyy worse than it already is. thats just my insight into all this. hope it helps.

hospitalstaph · Dec 22, 2006

well, penn valley does not drug test...suprise suprise, just as long as you have given yourself atlest 1 month without smoking it, then your urine should be negative for it. as far as a hair test, yeah right. that is way too expensive. one of my instructors work at truman hospital hill and she says in the last 30 yrs shes been a nurse, she has never once been drug tested. and statistically 45% of nurses have some type of drug dependency. whether it be pot or pills or whatever. so you would think that if we were drug tested ALL the time, the nursing shortage would be wayyyy worse than it already is. thats just my insight into all this. hope it helps.

30 years without a drug test?? Wow! By the way Truman does drug test new hires.

TL

gonzo1, ASN, RN · Dec 23, 2006

congratulations on not using drugs anymore. Since becoming an ER nurse the misery they cause has become very clear to me. I haven't had a joint in 30 years (only tried it 3 times and didn't like it) and almost never have alcohol any more. I am staggered by the grief drugs and alcohol cause on so many levels.

RNinSoCal · Dec 23, 2006

I personally have never had a hair or blood sample taken. I did have to go give a urine sample in a room with no sink with someone standing outside the door. I have only been tested for drugs 3 times in my 9 years of being a nurse, each time was prior to being hired at a new job.

talaxandra · Dec 23, 2006

Or you could come to Australia, where there isn't any drug screening.

Josh L.Ac. · Dec 31, 2006

You have to ask yourself a question. If you are willing to disobey the law regarding pot, what other laws or regulations or policies will you be willing to disobey and maybe put a patient at risk.

Or maybe the nurse just likes to blaze up every once in awhile which has nothing to do with patient care.

I hate the slippery slope / drug argument. Just because some drug-addicted nurse starts stealing narcs from their patients doesn't mean that everyone that uses a drug will do the same thing. Reminds me of the silly anti-gay marriage slippery slope argument: if we let same sex couples marry, then eventually people will start marrying their pets.

Both are ludicrous.

BTW, I am drug-free so my post is not motivated by the need to justify my actions.

allnurses Guide · Dec 31, 2006

Or maybe the nurse just likes to blaze up every once in awhile which has nothing to do with patient care.
I hate the slippery slope / drug argument. Just because some drug-addicted nurse starts stealing narcs from their patients doesn't mean that everyone that uses a drug will do the same thing. Reminds me of the silly anti-gay marriage slippery slope argument: if we let same sex couples marry, then eventually people will start marrying their pets.
Both are ludicrous.
BTW, I am drug-free so my post is not motivated by the need to justify my actions.

I wasn't talking about any of the above.

My thoughts are simply if a person is willing to disobey the law in one regard, to cut corners here and there, how soon will that begin to show up at work?

Little things like, that pill that fell on the floor . . . will it be picked up and placed in the med cup anyway? (I always personalize that situation and think about whether I would take a pill that had been on the floor of the med room). Or that missed medication due to a very busy day . . will it be charted as "given" anyway? Or the antibiotic that was hung on the wrong person and no one noticed except the nurse who hung it . . will that nurse report it?

Once you cross the line, it makes it easier to cross other lines.

steph

Josh L.Ac. · Jan 1, 2007

I wasn't talking about any of the above.
My thoughts are simply if a person is willing to disobey the law in one regard, to cut corners here and there, how soon will that begin to show up at work?
Little things like, that pill that fell on the floor . . . will it be picked up and placed in the med cup anyway? (I always personalize that situation and think about whether I would take a pill that had been on the floor of the med room). Or that missed medication due to a very busy day . . will it be charted as "given" anyway? Or the antibiotic that was hung on the wrong person and no one noticed except the nurse who hung it . . will that nurse report it?
Once you cross the line, it makes it easier to cross other lines.
steph

I was using those as examples to illustrate the logical fallacy of slippery slope arguments, which the basis of your point. Hey, sometimes slippery slopes do end up being accurate, but the argument itself is inherently flawed because it fails to take into account the situation at hand.

But it is accurate sometimes, and your theoretical examples are thought provoking. Here's a question:

If you are saying that a nurse that occasionally does illegal drugs is more likely to start breaking other rules which will lead to problems with patient care, are you saying the reason is because of the drugs themselves or that they are breaking rules which leads to future rule breaking?

allnurses Guide · Jan 1, 2007

I was using those as examples to illustrate the logical fallacy of slippery slope arguments, which the basis of your point. Hey, sometimes slippery slopes do end up being accurate, but the argument itself is inherently flawed because it fails to take into account the situation at hand.
But it is accurate sometimes, and your theoretical examples are thought provoking. Here's a question:
If you are saying that a nurse that occasionally does illegal drugs is more likely to start breaking other rules which will lead to problems with patient care, are you saying the reason is because of the drugs themselves or that they are breaking rules which leads to future rule breaking?

My first thought is, not because of the drugs but because they are breaking rules in the first place.

However, you could wonder about the role using drugs has on your conscience. For instance, if I was really drunk I might go home with that guy in the bar and have unprotected sex. When the truth might be that if I was not drunk, I would never do that.

My dh tells me that all guys know that the way to get a girl into bed is to get her intoxicated. Once a girl starts living that kind of lifestyle, her life choices might be different had she not started getting drunk.

I dunno - what came first . . . the chicken or the egg?

Maybe both.

steph

Huscarl73 · Jan 2, 2007

He has a valid point. If someone goes out on New years and has a few drinks/smoke does that make them impaired for next Fridays shift? For any kind of work? If the answer is yes then I will support it right after we start requiring the same standards from our politicians, our attorneys, our DA's and our police.